Little Fish, Big Pond

Chapters

Chance Encounter
Marine Biology
Caregiving
The Decision
The Beach Episode

Chance Encounter

In my life, there have been many things that brought me joy. Getting my cutiemark, graduating from flight school, opening a self-owned business, hooking up with my long time gryphon friend. So many cherished memories, so many things to look back on and smile. The one that I think fondly of the most though was that day I met my daughter, Scylla - that little ray of sunshine that caused me so much trouble, but brought me so much happiness.

My name is Pathfinder, I’m a pegasus, and it might be boasting, but this is how I became the father of the best, and most unique, young filly a stallion could ever ask for.

It all started on a beautiful sunny day in Equestria, around Haysead Swamp. I had taken a day to go out to update the inventory of my shop. I’m a map maker, and every year or so, I have to go around and make new maps so that they are accurate for my customers. Equestria is such a chaotic kingdom that it almost feels like new cities and locations pop up out of nowhere from time to time, so making sure my maps show the proper lay of the land is something my customers appreciate a lot.

“This looks like a good spot,” I said to myself, flying high above the swamp with my quill and clipboard in hand. I was trying to find a good angle to make my illustrations from, as well as a good starting point for my drawing. As any artist knows, the first pen stroke is always the hardest. “Now I just need…”

I looked around left and right, knowing what I was looking for had to be somewhere close by. It only took a moment, but I soon found a nice patch of cumulus I could take advantage of. I wasn’t part of any weather team, but they wouldn’t mind if I relocated a cloud for a while, not in this out-of-the-way place.

I flew over to commandeer the white cloud, brought it back to the spot I picked out, and then laid myself across it, belly down. There was nothing softer in the world than a patch of evaporated water, and so I often rested myself on one as I looked over the side and did my work.

Setting my clipboard sideways in front of my face, holding down the piece of parchment it held with one hand while readying my quill in the other, I got started on my map. The first thing I did was look over this side of my perch, taking in the details of the land beneath me before focusing on the piece of paper, quickly scribbling in whatever details I could remember from my short glance. I would repeat this process over, adding in new details with each glance and filling in the white sheet with as much black ink as I thought it could hold.

The amount of features I made was excruciating, much more than most would need to navigate the swamp, but that was necessary. This was a master draft which I would take back to my shop and duplicate an untold amount of times, with slightly less detail on the ones I sold my customers - enough that the maps could be used for their intended purpose, but not so detailed that they could be used to count how many trees were in the swamp.

This was a large, time consuming task that spanned most of the day just to get a portion of of what I needed. It was my special talent though, so letting the day pass by while I turned the world beneath me into an illustration in front of me was something I enjoyed doing.

That was, however, my personal opinion, and not one often shared by others. That wouldn’t have mattered in ordinary circumstances, but Haysead Swamp was not the safest of places. Just to stay on the safe side, I had hired an associate of mine to accompany me on the trip, and as expected, a little over an hour later, just as I had finished detailing the the first part of the swamp, my lovely assistant let herself be know.

As I inspected my work, making sure that I had captured the image of nature below, a vision of beauty brought itself before my eyes.

“Are you done yet?” asked a mildly annoyed gryphoness, arms crossed as she glared at me with one eye, the other covered by an eyepatch.

“I just finished this spot, Anya” I replied, blowing on my paper very lightly to dry the wet ink that remained on it. “Now onto the next one.”

“You know, I forgot to ask.” said Anya, her talon tapping on her bicep, “How long did you rope me into this?”

“Just eight hours,” I said with a slight tone of timidness. Gryphons were not the type to enjoy the aspects of a full day’s work, even as a favor for a friend and former lover.

Anya was easy to predict, as the huff she released from her beak had been anticipated. “And why do you need a bodyguard for this?” she asked, displaying the patience of a mountain, for a gryphon at least.

“You don’t want something to happen to your favorite pony, do you?” I said, playing coy, “For all we know, a manticore could leap out of the forest right now, and without your protection, I’d be helpless.”

“You’re a mile up in the sky,” Anya said, wildly exaggerating the distance they were from the ground, “A manticore couldn’t even get you up here.”

What she said was true, as a manticore’s wings were visual at best, but there were plenty of reasons to have a strong, attractive gryphon around when doing your work.

“But Anya,” I said, looking as pathetic as I could before her, “Don’t you want to protect your helpless pony friend from the dangers of the big, scary world?”

“Not particularly,” Anya replied, not seeing the what dangers could really threaten me from my perch.

“Then… don’t you want to earn ten bits an hour for sitting around and doing nothing?” That got Anya’s attention much more than any hypothetical monster ever could. Sometimes, you had to remind a gryphon that they had something to gain, as even strong friendships with them didn’t matter much when put up against money.

“You know,” Anya said, gently taking me by the jaw into her razor sharp talon, “You better be glad that you’re cute, cause if you weren’t, that racist remark would have cost you some skin.”

Anya might have played it off like the money wasn’t important, but just as earth ponies tended to be good with plants, and unicorns could inherently cast spells, some level of greed was common to see in a gryphon. She was a treasure hunter by trade after all, so acquiring large amounts of gold wasn’t something she was particularly against.

Then again, I really was just teasing her. I didn’t think money alone, and such a small amount of it at that, would have convinced her to come. It was more a combination of the two reasons. I was her friend, and she didn’t want to see me come to harm, but she couldn’t do it for free. ‘Pro bono’ just wasn’t a term gryphons understood.

“Look, if you’re bored, then go on and stretch your wings. I’m just gonna move this cloud over to the river at the edge of the forest and continue drawing there.” I told her, assuming that was the reason she came to bother me, which was entirely understandable.

Anya let go of my muzzle, giving me a slight look of concern - the kind that you give to someone when you don’t want to show that you care, but are unable to hide that you in fact do. “Are you sure you’ll be ok?”

There were legitimate reasons I hired Anya for jobs like this, as wild beasts tended to live in places like Haysead Swamp, and I had had more than my fair share of close encounters. If I stuck to the outskirts, and stayed in my patch of cumulus though, I shouldn’t have been in too much danger.

“I’ll be fine,” I reassured, “Consider it a paid break, and come back in fifteen minutes.”

“Fine,” Anya said, already flapping her wings to make some distance between herself and I, “But I’m not responsible if you do anything stupid while I’m gone.”

“What was that?” I said, pretending not to hear her as I repositioned the cloud, “I thought you were going on break.”

Anya puffed up in that adorable way gryphons sometimes did when they got angry, and then turned to fly off into the distance. She knew well what I was doing, that unless I pissed her off for a while, she’d be too worried about me to enjoy her time off. Didn’t make me any less a jerk in her eyes though, and I expected to get punished later for it, but if it made her happy, I didn’t care that much.

A few minutes later, I was back atop my cloud, looking down on Equestria and all its splendor. Pegasi got to see views like this everyday, but few ever truly took the time to take it all in. A pony who was skilled in drawing could see it for what it was, a beautiful landscape that should be admired and appreciated. While map making isn’t what most would call ‘art’, I see it as no less when recreating a view like that.

“Back to the drawing board,” I joked to myself, beginning anew the process of copying by sight the world around me.

A few minutes passed, with the river below providing a steady amount of background noise to keep my mind from being distracted. The sound of the running water was calming, pushing every other sound out as I worked my craft. The proper ambiance can help a pony out immensely when drawing, and I was making strides in my progress.

“If this keeps up, I could be done with the whole thing today,” I said to myself, voicing how impressed I was with my own work.

It was odd for me to talk to myself, but it was probably just an unconscious action to break the quiet. Still, I found it a little funny that I had muttered aloud what I could have easily just thought out in my head. It was enough to get a small chuckle out of me. I was having a very nice day, relaxing in the sun, enjoying nature, and getting my work done. It was all very pleasant. That was… until I heard a laugh echoed back at me.

At first, I thought nothing of it. It almost slipped right by me unnoticed, and probably would have stayed that way if not for the fact that it didn’t happen once, but twice. That’s when I registered both laughs at once, the second one making me retroactively aware of the first one. In my head, I tried to make sense of what I heard.

I started off thinking that is was an echo of my own laugh, but that didn’t make sense. I was up in the air, there was nothing for my voice to echo off of. Then I thought that it was just my mind playing tricks with me, but that’s when the heard the laugh a third time. This time however, I wasn’t caught off guard by it, and that allowed me to hear the laugh clearly, it being the soft gigglings of a child, and a very young child by the sounds of it.

Suddenly wondering why a child would be out here so close to the dangerous swamp, I started looking around for the source of the giggle. I scrambled around my cloud perch, looking around all the edges, and even through the cloud to look directly beneath me. My eyes must have passed over the source several times, but one more giggle directed my eyes towards the river, and there I saw movement.

It was small, almost unnoticeable from my altitude, but a few feet away from the river was small parts of red. That was not a color common in nature, and especially in a swamp. It could have been a flower, but the splotch was too big for that, so what was it? Whatever it was, it was moving strangely, showing that it had a life of its own.

Now curiosity was probably not the best thing to adhere to in a dangerous place like this, but when another laugh came from the red dot on the ground, I found myself unable to just ignore it. Putting my things away, I flew down to see what it was, having to land my hooves in a patch of mud as I touched down, and for the first time in my life, I laid eyes on the most spectacular thing I would ever encounter.

Sitting there, playing in the muddy river bank, was a small foal with bright red hair. From the size of her, she couldn’t have been a year old yet, but somehow she had gotten all the way to the outskirts of the swamp. She acted like she didn’t have a care in the world, happily splashing around and getting covered in the muck. She didn’t even care that I, a pony she had never seen before, had just came out of the sky and landed before her.

“Well, how did you get out here?” I said aloud, as if expecting a response from this infant.

That got the child to look my way, and it must’ve seen something funny, because it let out a laugh much bigger than the other ones I had heard, while clapping cakes of mud together in its hands.

Seeing no immediate danger, I looked around my surroundings. If there was a child around here, then surely it’s parents were close-by as well. I couldn’t find another living soul though, and after carefully scanning the forest for a few minutes, I gave up.

“Ok…” I said, a bit worried for the foal at this point, “No parents… so did you actually wander out here?”

I bent down into the mud to observe the foal a little closer, refraining from touching it as I inspected its body for wounds or marks. Unfortunately, the mud covered so much of its body that it was hard to tell anything. As I watched the child play around, from a respectable distance in case its’ parents decided to suddenly appear, it slapped its hands back into the mud, and then turned its head when its’ hand felt something.

Still observing, I watched the child dig around in the mud for a few seconds, eventually pulling out a worm from the wet dirt. Then, without hesitation, the child started to move the living, wriggling creature towards its face while gradually opening its mouth. I could tell immediately what was happening, and reactively decided that the time for observation had ended.

“No!” I yelled, reaching for the child, believing that as the only present adult, I had to stop the infant from doing something disgusting, I scooped it up in my arms, and quickly placed my hand over it’s own to prevent the worm from being eaten.

The worm had been prevented entrance to the baby’s mouth, but that didn’t stop the child from still trying, and soon it was my hand that went inside instead. A part of it at least, being nommed on by the thankfully toothless jaws of the infant.

“Well, that’s better than you swallowing a worm,” I said, gagging on the thought. “But now we need to…”

With the child now in hand and off the ground, I was able to get a much better look at it, or at least a part of it that I hadn’t seen yet. Having been seated in the mud, the baby’s tail had been mostly obscured, but in my arms I could see completely the particularly non-pony tail the child had.

Instead of being comprised of a small nub covered by long strands of hair, the child had a thick, hairless tail that ended with a fish-like fin. On further inspection, I found out that the child had no fur either, no hair at all save for the red patch on her head. It was also at this time that I embarrassingly discovered that the child was a girl, my eyes catching this upon realizing that this odd mini-mare was without a diaper.

“Well aren’t you a strange one?” I said softly to the girl, managing to get her to drop the worm back into the mud as she continued chew on one of my fingers, “But this explains some things, I believe.”

I didn’t know much about the girl’s true nature at that time, but I was at least observant enough to understand she was some sort of aquatic pony. That better explained the missing parents, as the river was but a few steps away from where I found her. It was possible that they had put the baby there, intending it to be just for a brief moment, or that the girl had wandered ashore.

Assuming this to be so, I believed the best thing to do was to attempt to make contact with the baby’s mother and father. Of course, that was difficult, since pegasi couldn’t just go underwater to find them. I did have an idea how to lure them out though. A stupid, stupid idea.

With the girl in hand, I approached the river till I was right at the edge of the bank. Looking left, and then right, in a last attempt to see if the girl’s parents were around, I then went on to enact the only plan that came to my mind at the time. Taking a deep breath, I crouched down next to the water, and slowly lowered the small child towards it, all the while keeping a close eye on the girl to see if what I was doing was scaring her in any way. It was quite the contrary though, as when I got her close to the stream, she willingly placed her feet inside and splashed about. It seemed that she liked the feeling of being wet, so much so that I had to tighten my grip so she couldn’t slip away.

“I guess that proves you’re aquatic,” I said, glad that my assumptions were right, “I guess you’re some kind of fresh water sea pony. Now how about we tell your parents you’re here?”

The baby gave a delighted squeal from her mouth, almost like she could understand me. I was just happy that she hadn’t been frightened with me from the start.

So for a few minutes I dipped the child into the slow moving, slightly chilled river. Touching the water was enough to get me to shiver at first, but the girl didn’t seem to care about the temperature at all. That was good, as it was my hope that when she started splashing about in the water, it would attract the attention of her mother and father. To help with that, I took the opportunity to give the child a quick bath to remove all that mud off her body, which was an easy task, since her smooth skin allowed the water to slide the dirt right off her.

“That furless body of yours is really useful,” I concluded, not only because of its dirt-repelling powers, but also because I figured that it her skin kept her thermally insulated, kind of like a dolphin would be. With the grey muck removed, she even looked a bit like dolphin, save for that red mane of her.

Minutes passed, but there was still no sign of any other aquatic ponies. About now, I was getting worried, wondering if the infant had been swept downstream and washed up on the bank. The whole situation was getting tougher by the minute, and I was beginning to run out of ideas. My mind raced, focusing on how I would be able to return this lost child to where she belonged. It was so distracting that I didn’t even notice the large shadow moving in the water, heading directly for us.

“Come on, Path… Think… Think!” I whispered, not wanting to spread my panic to the baby as I took her out of the water. I thought about going upstream, or flying above the area to see if I could see signs of anyone in the water, but before I could act on those ideas, something else came to the forefront of my thoughts.

A large burst of water erupted from the river I had just pulled a little girl out of , caused by what I could hardly make out as a ghastly green figure leaping out of it. The moment was so fast as that creature came at me that I couldn’t see any details of it through the droplets of water spraying through the air - nothing except a frightful look of fury on its face.

I was frozen in time, mind stunned in fear, unable to control my body because of the now present danger before me. Unable to think, my body acted on it’s own. My wings spread wide, but not in order to fly as one might think. In their momentary state of independence, they decided that the better thing to do was to cover the front of my torso. My legs, instead of trying to run, just shifted my body sideways in a half turn. Both sets of appendages designed to flee from danger betrayed me, for reasons my terrified mind couldn’t understand. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my body knew exactly what it was doing, using itself as a shield for the tiny bundle in my ever-tightening arms.

As I mentally braced for the attack that was about to be inflicted on my being, a loud screeching hit my ears. It was a vicious cry, but its source was not the green monster mere inches away from landing its attack. It was from the ferocious gryphoness dive-bombing said creature, using her powerful battle cry to distract and confuse my would-be attacker as his violent splash shocked and mentally paralyzed me. The green creature didn’t anticipate a second person there with me, so when Anya drove her talons down into his torso, it was completely incapable of dodging her attack.

The creature yelled out in pain, sharp claws digging into his chest. Anya was grappling with him, flapping her wings around wildly as she brought her legs forward, proceeding to use her cat-like claws to rake the creature across any bits exposed flesh they could find. The green creature cried out in agony, lost within a spinning whirlwind of feathers, fur, and sharp objects attached to his attacker, and, seeing no other recourse, ran back to the water from which it came. Anya, not wanting to be dragged into the water, released the green monster last second, allowing it to escape once it was clear it was running away.

Just like that, the attack started and ended, taking only a few seconds to get from one to the other. I could never, and probably will never, understand how predatory creatures were able to act in a split second, but this is why I was thankful that Anya was willing to take these kinds of jobs.

Anya flew a safe distance away from the river, keeping a watchful eye on it as she made her way back to me. “Path, we need to go.” she said, believing that the green monster could be back any moment.

I heard her, but my mind didn’t register the words. Anya might as well have been taking to a statue, for all the reaction she got out of me. Luckily for me, Anya was a more hands-on kind of gryphon when push came to shove. Seeing my hesitation, she ran over to me, put her hands under my arms, and then flapped her wings to take us both into the air, unaware that she actually had two passengers in her hold.

“What was all that about?” Anya asked once she felt they were safely away from the river. As far as she had seen, there was no reason I had left the safety of my cloud.

Around this time, my senses started returning, and I was able to answer my associate. “The baby.” I said, blurting out the first answer that came to mind.

“Baby?” she said, “What baby?”

“This one.” I said, retracting my wings to reveal the little bundle of joy I was cradling in my arms.

“What the heck!” Anya yelled, to which the baby made a gurgling noise, apparently wanting to be part of the conversation too.

“It’s a long story,” I said, realizing only a moment later that a story that happened within mere minutes really wasn’t going to be that long.

“Did you steal a baby?!” Anya yelled again, drawing out more amused coos from the child.

“No!” I profusely objected, “I saw her near the water, alone, and when I tried to find her parents that thing you fought attacked me.”

Anya looked back to the river, and, unbeknownst to me at the time, spotted the green creature from before in the water along with another creature that it was holding in its arms. “Well, we can’t go back now.” she said, seeing only danger in this beast she had fended off only with the element of surprise.

“I agree,” I… agreed, likewise seeing going back as only putting the baby, and ourselves, in danger. For all I knew, that monster was the reason the child’s parents were separated from her, perhaps having done something unthinkable to them. “We’ll have to go get some help if we want to fix this.”

Anya sighed, but wasn’t so callus as to say no to helping an infant. “Okay, but you’re gonna owe me for this one.”

The plan was simple. Go back to town, find someone who could at the very least help us get the baby back to her kind, and then deliver her safely to those who could care for her. Little did I know that this was the start of what would be a great and lifelong adventure.

Author's Note

Commission for Scylla the Kelpie. Scylla wanted to do an origin story for their OCs, and so being their close friend (and taking a $10 bribe) I wrote up this first chapter. There will be more to come, but it will take a while to get back to this. Also, note that this doesn't mean I'm now doing commissions. I only accepted this because of my relationship with Scylla.

For those familiar with my other works, know that none of my usual subject matter will be in this. For those who don't know what that means, I would suggest you not look into it. NSFW stuff mostly, with heavy emphasis on the kind of stuff your mother warned you about.

Marine Biology

“So she’s a sea pony, right?” I said, looking at the infant girl sitting atop my kitchen table.

After fleeing from Hayseed Swamp, Anya and I made it back to my home without issue, save for now having in our possession a small aquatic pony child.

“Sure looks like one,” the gryphoness remarked, looking at the long, porpoise-like tail, “Except…”

“Except what?” I replied.

“Well Path, I’ve never met one, but I thought that sea ponies didn’t have legs.”

Anya was right about that. While sightings of sea ponies were scarce, the rumors of them having fish-like fins instead of legs was pretty universal.

“So maybe she’s some kind of mutant?” Anya said, blurting out the first conclusion that came to her.

“Anya!” I said, “Don’t call her a mutant!”

“What,” Anya said with a chuckle, positioning her talon above the baby’s head, “It’s not like she can understand me. Kids her age don’t care what you say, so long as you say it positively. It’s that right, you little mutant?”

Anya flicked her sharp fingers around a bit as she spoke to the fishy child with a ‘baby voice’, and in response, the infant laughed and clapped, probably just excited that she was getting lots of attention. I nudged Anya with my elbow, still not happy that she was making light of the situation, which made her stop toying with the child for a moment.

“Ok, fine,” she said, now a bit put off, “But that doesn’t excuse our problem. We need to get this baby home to its parents, and to do that we need to figure out where it comes from, and…”

“To do that we need to know what she is,” I finished, well aware of the problem. Even if we were certain the baby was a sea pony, there might have been a subspecies that had legs as opposed to the standard finned varieties, and knowing where to find those would be the first step to getting the child home, “Maybe it would help if we got a professional who knows about this.”

“Do you know any ponies that specialize in aquatic pony life?” Anya asked, not knowing that many ponies to begin with, let alone a pony marine biologist.

“No, not really,” I replied, “We could ask around, I’m sure we’ll find something.”

Anya took a deep breath, not as optimistic about that as I was. Equestria didn’t have open relations with the sea pony kingdom, so odds were that finding somepony who knew anything about them, in general, would take a while.

“I do have one idea,” Anya said, picking up the baby in her arms, being careful to mind her claws, “But it means we will have to fly to Griffonstone.”

“A gryphon that knows about sea ponies?”

“Probably,” Anya said, “He knows a little bit about everything. Better grab your coin purse.”

I didn’t even have to question why she said that last part. It was a gryphon we were dealing with, and even when dealing with one another, the avian species were compelled by greed.

Hours later, we arrived at the doorstep of one of the many ramshackle shacks of Griffonstone. It was run down, with holes in the roof and a door that looked like it was about to fall off its hinges, but this was nothing unusual. The formerly glorious gryphon nation was littered with such buildings, Anya having left the city to get away from it all, as many other gryphon do. I would have normally never given it a second thought, but in our current predicament, all I could think that this was no place to bring a child.

Still, I gave no objection as Anya gave the dilapidated door a knock, followed by a few slams when her first attempt wasn’t answered immediately. The second attempt was much more effective, as shortly after I heard movement inside, followed by the sounds of objects and furniture being displaced, and ending with the loud noise of something fragile smashing on the floor before the door was flung open to reveal an old gryphon with the features of a withered vulture.

“What is it?” the elderly avian said grumpily, “Can’t a guy get some shut-eye at this hour of the day?”

“But it’s just a little past noon…” I said, noting that the day was barely halfway through.

“So?!” the gryphon replied, his feathers becoming ruffled by my comment, “I sleep throughout the day. I’m old, it’s what we do.”

“Don’t mind him, Grampa Gruff,” Anya said, “I just brought him along because we need your help.”

The old gryphon took a moment to squint at the gryphoness before recollection hit and his eyes widened with surprise, “Anya?” he said, his grumpy demeanor vanishing for a brief moment, before coming right back, “So ya left without a word after all I did to raise you upright, and now that you need something you come crawling back?”

I watched Anya rolled her eyes, a typical gryphon response when given any kind of attitude from someone else, “You know that’s not how it happened. I told you I was going to Equestria to seek my fortune, and you just wouldn’t hear it. I even tried to tell you goodbye, but you just waved your hand and told me ‘You’ll be back’.”

“And I was right!” Gruff said, waving a finger at Anya.

“Look, I wouldn’t be here right now if I didn’t think you were the only one who could help,” Anya said, taking the foal from my arms, “We stumbled across this thing here, and we need-”

Gruff grabbed the door, and just before slamming it said sternly, “Not interested.”

The impact of the door hitting its frame shook his whole house, leaving the three of us standing on the other side of his flimsy divider.

“Oh for the love of-” Anya quickly handed the child back to me, and pounded on the door once more, “I don’t want you to take care of it, you old buzzard! We just need help figuring out what species it is!” A few more fists hit the door, Anya slowly going from annoyed to angry, and almost in a fit of rage she blurted out, “We were even gonna pay you!”

Almost as soon as she said that, the door opened again, but this time not by Grampa Gruff’s hand, but by that of a young gryphon girl, perhaps four or five years old.

“Did you say… ‘pay’?” The tiny gryphoness asked, the prospect of getting any amount of coin enticing her.

“Gilda, get back inside!” Gruff called to the chick.

“But they said they have money,” she replied.

“Do what I say, or a give ya a knock on the noggin,” Gruff threatened, prompting the young gryphon away from the entrance, “And you two, are ya gonna stand on my front step all day? Get in here, and let’s see this problem of yours!”

Anya and I looked to one another, and I watched as her beak turn to a smirk, “Told ya he’d help us.”

Anya made her way inside after that remark, and I followed after, not really understanding what had just happened. I knew that gryphons could be inhospitable, but somehow that trait went so far in one direction that it went out the other side and convinced the old gryphon to invite us in. These were strange customs, the likes I would never encounter in Equestria.

Entering the house, the place looked as much of a mess as the outside, the old gryphon’s furniture covered in clutter, and in a state of disrepair that it was a wonder how some of it still held together. I had to watch my step as I made my way around, as old bobbles and trinkets were scattered about in such density that I couldn’t put a hoof down without nudging one.

“So you’re trying to figure out what ya got there,” said Gruff, standing by a table in what I assume was an area he used as his study. He placed an arm down on one edge of its surface and cleared it off by haphazardly knocking everything on top of it to the floor. “Well set it down so I can have a look at her.”

It took me a little while to reach the table myself, but once there I did as I was told.

Gruff then bent over the child, observing every part of it in great detail, “Hmmm… I see… very interesting…” he muttered to himself.

“What’s interesting?” I asked, feeling that I deserved to know whatever it was he was discovering about the foal.

His response was a silent raising of his hand, palm turned upwards, as he continued his observations without so much of a turn of his head in my direction. Fortunately, I had learned ‘gryphon sign language’ through Anya, and thus with a small sigh handed him a small pouch of Equestrian coins.

The gryphon bounced the bag in his hands, and seemed pleased with the jingling he heard. “Lucky for you two, I think I know what this is.”

“You do?” Anya asked, having placed herself on the other side of the table from the male gryphon.

“I just need to conduct a few tests,” he said, reaching for a pencil he spotted on the floor.

Using the eraser end of the object, he slowly brought it closer to the baby, who tried to grab at it, until Gruff sped up his movement and pressed it into the center of her forehead, taking it away just as quickly. The child blinked a few times, assumedly out of confusion, but then started laughing from the sensation.

“What was that-?” I started to ask.

“Shhhh,” Gruff interrupted, repeating his pencil jab again, getting another childish giggle in return. He did this several times, with each making me want to ask what he was doing even more, but the moment I would open my mouth, he would ‘shh’ me again. After about ten times, it started to become annoying, but not just for me.

The child was starting to find it less and less funny as well, her reactions going from happy, to neutral, to a little upset. Tears were forming in her eyes as if even at her young age she could understand that the old gryphon was picking on her.

At the sight of her starting to cry, something instinctual flared up inside me, almost like when I had protected her from the monster at the river. “Hey, quit it,” I said, ignoring the shh-ing that came when I spoke. “No, I mean it. Stop.”

“Just a few more times, and we’ll see if I’m right,” Gruff said, going in for another jab.

I wasn’t about to let that happen and took hold of his wrist before he could poke the child again, being firm, but gentle as I could be with the elderly avian. He, of course, didn’t take this lightly and grabbed my arm with his free hand.

“You wanted me to figure out what this thing is, and that’s what I’m doing.” he protested.

“By making her sad?” I rebutted, raising my voice a little.

“No,” Gruf said, “By making her-”

“Uh, you two might want to look-,” Anya said, clearly concerned about something. Whatever it was, it would have to wait. What I was doing was more important, at least that’s what I thought until...

“GRAAAH!”

A small, but frightening sound hit my ear, and my head turned to the table, where it had come from. The only thing there was the baby, but she no longer resembled the sweet, cheerful child I had come to know. Her skin had changed from a grey and white complexion to that of a sickly green, her skin sagging in places while her body took on an emaciated appearance, the outlines of her bones becoming visible through her flesh. The bright red mane she bore changed to a dark, murky color of rust, and the whites of her eyes had changed to pure black, while her emerald green eyes went pale.

In this terrifying state, the child attacked the pencil that had been prodding her, biting down on the wood part of it, acting like a vicious animal as she took out her frustrations on the object.

“By making her mad.” Gruff said, completing his thought, relinquishing the pencil to the girl, “It’s just as I thought.”

Worried about what had happened, I released Gruff’s wrist. “W-What? Anya, what happened?”

“I don’t know?!” she replied, just as freaked out as I was, “I just was watching her, and one second she was normal, and the next she turned into that right before my eyes!”

“Both of you, relax!” Gruff demanded, “The child’s ok, and everything is fine. She’s just doing what comes naturally is all.”

“Natural?” I asked, not sure what was at all natural about this.

“Gilda!” Gruff said, scanning the room for the gryphon girl, “Go find me my book on Equestrian Aquatic Species.”

The young gryphoness had taken to laying herself across a tattered recliner, sitting on it sideways as she showed no interest in what the adults were doing. When she was called upon, her only reply was, “Why do I have to get it?” To which the reply was a shiny, golden bit being tossed onto her chest. That changed her tune quickly, and as she snatched up the coin, she took off through the house, saying “Right away, Gramps” as she flew off to a nearby bookshelf.

She was in no way quick about her task but managed to come back with a fairly worn book before Gruff had to go after her himself. Flying right up to the old gryphon, she handed him the book, while catching her first glimpse of the gaunt baby atop the table.

“Woah, what’s that?” she asked, watching as the younger child did her best to attack the pencil given to her, despite not having any teeth.

“That…” he said opening the book, flipping a few pages till he found the one he sought, “Is this.

Placing the book down, he allowed everypony else to take a look inside. My eyes locked onto the first word I saw, printed in large, bold letters. “Scylla?”

“No, not that,” Gruff said, “Those are just myths. Look at the other page.”

Doing as I was instructed, I saw an image of a creature that looked much like an adult version of what the infant looked like right now. A nearly horrific pony with aquatic features, that seemed more monster than equine. And above its image was the name of the creature: “Kelpie”.

“What you have here is a baby kelpie,” Gruff said, just to make sure I got the right one, “They are mean and monstrous ponies that live in rivers and attack anyone who they come across that isn’t a kelpie. They're likely to drag you in and drown ya, so much as look at ya.”

“But… how is this her?” I asked, confused, “She didn’t look like that until right now.”

“Look right here,” Gruff said, pointing to a spot in the book as he explained the important details, “Kelpies have the ability to alter their appearance to look more like ponies, and less gruesome. They do this to lure ponies like yourself into an ambush and lead them to a watery grave. Mean-spirited lot.”

Having said that, Gruff bent over and searched through his clutter, until finding a set of keys. He hovered the shiny metal items before the tiny kelpie’s face and jingled them about a few times. This caught her attention, and as the gryphon assumed, distracted her away from the pencil. The noise and movement both proved entertaining for the infant, and her mood improved vastly over the course of a few seconds. Soon, her shape plumped out again, and her completion brightened back up until she returned to her prior form.

“She’s probably not even aware she’s doing it,” Gruff said, allowing the infant to take the keys and do as she pleased with them, to which she happily shook them around to make more noise, “It’s all instinct right now, coming as natural as flapping your wings when you were a foal.”

“So… you’re saying that her parents are literal monsters?” I asked.

“You ponies have a strange notion of what you consider monsters,” Gruff replied, “You look at this child, and until it showed you its true form, you didn’t think for a second that she was anything but a normal baby. Kelpies are just like you or me, and while they have a mean streak, that’s brought on out of necessity, not nature.”

“You mean that other creatures shun them for their appearance,” Anya said, “And that’s why they stick to themselves.”

“Exactly,” Gruff said, “Especially from you ponies, since you’re a judgemental lot. I wouldn’t give one the opportunity drag me in the drink, but I at least am aware that they only kill to protect their territory, and steal because it’s the best way they can provide for themselves.”

As the two gryphons spoke on the matter of kelpie behavior, I was busy replaying my first encounter with the baby kelpie in my head, having just come to a sudden realization. While I didn’t get a good look at the creature that attacked us from the river, but looking back, I remembered a vaguely pony-like shape, and eyes that looked exactly like the ones I saw the child have in her natural form.

“Oh no…” I said aloud, catching the attention of the two gryphons, “Anya… I think I made a mistake.”

Anya, being the more clever of the two of us, seemed to have come to the same conclusion, and replied, “Yeah… I think you kidnapped a child.”

With the understanding that the baby was a kelpie, it became all too apparent that I was attacked because her father or mother saw some strange pony holding their child. In the heat of the moment, I took the child away from what I thought was a threat to both of us, but was in actuality just a threat to me.

“Hmmm…” Gruff said, having now learned how we came across the child, “If that’s what you did, I’d stay away from river banks from now on if I were you.”

“I didn’t mean to,” I said in defense, “I didn’t see a baby and say ‘oh look, free baby’.”

“Grampa Gruff,” Anya said calmly, “Pathfinder isn’t malicious, just a bit stupid. The reason we wanted to learn more about the baby in the first place is because we want to get her back to her parents.”

“If that’s what you’re trying to do, you’re gonna have a hard time,” Gruff said, closing his book, “Kelpies are loners, never staying in large groups, and never staying in one river for too long. You could check where you found her, but odds are that her parents have moved on, mostly in search of their missing child.”

“We still have to try though,” I said, not wanting to give up before we started.

“Good luck on that,” Gruff said, going over to the mess of pots and pans that was his kitchen, “But before you go, I take it you haven’t fed it yet, have you?”

“We tried to feed it some oats on the way here,” I answered, “But she didn’t like them.”

“Of course not, she’s a carnivore,” Gruff said, getting into his fridge and pulling out a fish from it. Finding a knife and a chopping board, he sliced the fish into several slivers of meat, and then chopped those slivers into mince, before sliding it into a bowl and handing it to me, “Feed her this until you get her back to her parents. Grounded up worms will work too.”

“Right…” I said, embarrassed. Being a pony, one just assumes that most other species are herbivores too, but leave it to a gryphon to understand which creatures need meat to survive.

“Thank you for all your help, Grandpa Gruff,” Anya said, picking up the child.

“Now don’t you go flying off as soon as you got what you wanted,” Gruff said, scolding my associate, “It’s my turn to get something from you.”

Anya sighed, but smiled, “Okay, what do you need from me?”

“Just some information.” said Gruff.

“Information?” Anya asked.

“Yeah, about Equestria,” said Gruff, shifting his eye slightly to the younger gryphoness in the room, “Seeing that you went to live there, and didn't come back till now, I thought maybe there was a good reason for that. I’ve been considering something for a while, and if I’m gonna do it, then I might need some advice from someone who knows Equestria better than I do.”

“Of course, Grampa Gruff,” Anya said, “Anything for the gryphon who raised me.”

“Come on, then,” he replied, “We’ll talk about this in another room. Away from prying ears.”

“Sure,” said Anya, “Path, you mind giving me a few minutes?”

I had already made my way back over to the table, and was feeding the kelpie bits of meat I had been given. “Yeah, I can hang out while you talk to your friend.”

“Gilda,” Gruff commanded the gryphon girl, “Keep an eye on the pony and make sure he doesn’t take anything.”

Gilda groaned, and I gave the old gryphon a look, not realizing his order was more for his privacy than skepticism towards me. I was later told by Anya that Gruff wanted to send Gilda to Equestria to get a better education than she would get in Griffonstone, and that he had always been one to look out for the unfortunate youths of the gryphon nation.

Still, without that knowledge, I quickly let my annoyance at the old gryphon’s words go, and allowed the gryphon child to keep watch over me as I fed the kelpie. “So this is supposed to be a dangerous pony predator?” Gilda asked, not seeing anything particularly threatening about the baby.

“Yeah, I suppose so,” I replied as I scooped up another bit of fish mush onto my finger, bringing it to the kelpie’s face where she promptly gummed off the food presented to her, “But I guess that won’t happen till she grows up.”

“Pfff,” Gilda snubbed, blowing air through her beak, “I could take one of those things if it came after me.”

Remembering how Anya easily fended off an adult kelpie, I had to agree with Gilda that when she grew up, she’d probably be able to do the same. Gryphons were predators, and both birds and cats very often had advantages compared to fish.

That did make me wonder though, what was the life of a kelpie like? Gruff didn’t make it sound great, since he implied that theft and murder were natural parts of their culture. It was almost a shame that by returning the baby to her rightful parents, she would be returned to such a world.

“So does it have a name?” Gilda asked as she lends her back against the table’s edge, trying to keep a display of disinterest, but finding it impossible not to submit to her childish curiosity.

“Eh… not that I know of,” I answered, assuming that her parents would have named her.

“Then why don’t you give her one?” the gryphon child suggested.

Giving the child another finger full of fish bits, I didn’t really think it would be right to give her a title that might override her actual name in her impressionable, infant mind. Though, the mere mention of it did make me humor what I might call her in my thoughts. Something aquatic, of course, as pony naming conventions usually had names that connected directly to the pony themselves.

At about the time the bowl of fish became empty, the door to the room Gruff and Anya went into opened up. “Ok, time to go,” said Anya, heading for the door.

I got up, understanding that we both had no more reason to stick around, having gotten what we needed. “Thank you for all your help,” I said to our host, before making my way to the exit.

“Don’t thank me,” Gruff replied, not caring for the praise of a random Equestrian, “You still have a bunch of problems to deal with if ya intend to get that baby back to its parents. Even if ya find them, I suggest you don’t get too close to the water.”

Anya and I headed Gruff’s last warning, and let his home, Anya giving one last “Goodbye” before we took flight and left Griffonstone behind to start our search.

We returned to the river we first found the baby, starting at the location I discovered her, now a day later. Together, Anya and I traversed a good portion of it, until we reached parts that split off in different directions, calling out for any kelpies to direct their attention to us. As Gruff suggested though, it had appeared that the parents had already left, perhaps on a man hunt for their missing child, and for me.

The fear of retribution never overcame my sense of duty though, as I was determined to get reunite the kelpie family, even at the cost of well deserved bodily harm for my accidental actions. It took Anya to stop me from searching, as she spotted the sun being lowered by Celestia.

“Path, it’s gonna get dark soon,” she said, “And a swamp is no place for a child at night.”

“You’re right,” I admitted instantly, despite wanting to continue the search, “I’ll just… have to try again tomorrow, and if that doesn’t work, the day after that.”

Anya gave me a sympathetic look, knowing that I was feeling awful for what I had done. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her parents.”

I wanted to believe her, but I couldn’t disregard what Gruff had said. If the kelpies had left this area, there might be no finding them at the point. Still, I had to try. This baby deserved to have parents, and one way or another I was going to provide her with them.

Caregiving

Time passed for me, and the young kelpie I now had in my care. As much as I tried to find her mother and father, walking along that same stretch of river, they never approached me again. Day after day I’d go back there, but as Gruff had told me, the kelpie’s parents had already left, presumably to find their child through their own means.

For the weeks that I tried finding them, Anya accompanied me, worried that had I succeeded I’d need someone to protect me from the rage of the child’s parents. This couldn’t go on forever though, as focusing on me detracted from her taking up jobs and earning money she needed to provide for herself. Still concerned for my safety, she made me promise not to continue my search without her, a promise that I had broken several times, with no results for my efforts.

As weeks turned to months, Anya suggested that we look into handing the infant over to somepony who would be better equipped to finding the two kelpies I sought, but I reminded her that kelpies were loners by nature, and constantly relocated their territory, so it wasn’t like somepony else would have any better chance than us. While that was the rationality I used, the truth was that I felt too responsible for the baby kelpie to just hand her off to some stranger. If anyone was going to be the one to reunite her with her mother and father, it had to be me.

Unfortunately, that never came to pass, and I ended up taking care of the kelpie for a long time, with the on again, off again assistance of Anya.I had, in many ways, become a single parent to the foal, caring for her as any father should, giving her to love, attention, and protection any guardian of a young life should.

One early morning on an ordinary day in Equestria, I was working in my studio, drawing up copies of maps of Canterlot. An announcement had just been released that Celestia’s royal map maker had been retired, and that the antiquated position would be retired with them, since skilled map makers were more abundant in the modern age of Equestria. However, streets and roads are occasionally added to Equestria, and buildings constructed over time, so updated renditions of city maps would still need to be made, and thus map makers from all around Equestria were set to the task of designing the next official one for distribution to visitors to the kingdom’s capital, in case the Princess called for a commission.

It was more preparation for the possibility that I was the one Princess Celestia came to, rather than an actual job. But no professional left these sorts of things up to chance. So using the current version of the Canterlot map as a base, I set to work adding my own special touches to the layout. The older map might have been a little out of date, but the presentation was what mattered most. Small details could be adjusted later, if and when I was actually selected to serve the princess. Besides, it wasn’t like I could simply go to Canterlot to scout the area, not when I had a certain special little filly to look after.

“Actually, what time is it?” I said, stretching my whole body, from legs, to back, to wings.

Looking up above the door to my studio, I saw that morning had come, and it was time to wake up my ward. Placing my quill down, I got up from my seat, exiting my place of work into my home. Like many ponies, my house doubled as my place of business, where I could do all my business and live my life in one convenient location. All it took was the flip of a sign to turn living space to work place.

“First thing’s first,” I said to myself, walking right into the kitchen after leaving the studio, “Breakfast.”

I always made it an issue to have a nice morning meal ready in the morning, not just for the little kelpie, but for myself as well. It had become a little more complicated, now that I was cooking for two creatures with vastly different diets, but I figured out a routine that made it fairly easy for our separate meals to be made.

First, I went to the fridge, taking out a few apples, celery stalks, and a fresh bass. I was probably the only pony in all Equestria who actually kept fish in their refrigerator, at least the only one who didn’t take care of animals. With these three items on hand, I set forth to chop them up into bite-sized pieces. I started with the fruits and vegetables, knowing from experience that the fish would leave a mess on the knife I’d have to clean off before using again, cutting the apples into fours, then cutting those pieces in half, before turning several sticks of celery into tiny rectangles a young pony could put into their mouth all at once.

After that came the fish, which I had to descale first. Taking it by the tail, I hung the body over the edge of my sink, running the knife along it from tail to head over and over again, each pass flicking a spray of tiny scales off the dead animal. This was fairly easy, but the cutting into the fish, turning its meat into filets, took a long time for a vegetarian creature like myself to get used to. It was one of the things I had to have Anya show me how to do, and to this day I don’t find it pleasant to have to deal with what parts are left over.

Still, for the sake of the child in my care, I deal with it, cutting several slivers of flesh off the fish, before tossing the remains out the window over the kitchen counter, to a trashcan I keep just outside it. Next came the cooking, where I had to grab a pan and a pot, along with a few eggs and a bag of oatmeal. I poured the oatmeal mix and some water into the pot, as that would be part of my breakfast, while cracking a few eggs into the pan, slipping in the fish filets next to the egg innards so I could cook them both at the same time. This made the act of making breakfast fairly quick, optimizing the amount of time I spent getting everything ready.

All that was needed once everything was cooked to near perfection was a couple of plates, which I put our individual meals on, and when I finished that, I set them on the table to await my most special guest.

“Time to get her up,” I said to myself, making my way to the room I had set up for her, calling to the door just before reaching it, “Scylla, breakfast is ready!”

Scylla… That word I had seen in Gruff’s book that day I figured out what a kelpie was. After some time of having the child around, it just wasn’t appropriate to keep calling it ‘the baby’ or ‘the child’, and I had to give her a proper name. With how little I knew about aquatic lift, as a pegasus knowing more about the sky than I did the sea, I remembered that mythological creature right next to the entry of her kind in that book, and thought it was fitting.

Making it to Scylla’s room, I opened the door, expecting to find her just getting up, or with her eyes still shut as she ignored my call. What I didn’t anticipate finding was her bed in a mess, having been slept in but not fixed in the morning, with no kelpie in sight.

My first instinct was to check the room, calling “Scylla!” as I thought she might have been just outside of my line of sight. Going into the center of the room, and giving it a thorough scan, I could see that I was the only one present in it at that moment. I immediately went to the next place she could have been, almost going into a sprint heading to the bathroom, thinking she could be brushing her teeth, taking a bath, or using the toilet.

Without so much as a knock, I grabbed the handle, and found it to be unlocked. If Scylla was inside, she’d just have to forgive me later for interrupting whatever she was doing at that moment. Still, I didn’t want to totally invade her privacy, so I at least had the decency to open the door just a crack and called her again from the other side. Again, no response. So opening the door even more, I found the room empty, with no signs of it being used.

At this point, I started to panic. I held a lot of responsibility for the little kelpie’s wellbeing, and not seeing her in the places she should be set off my protective instincts. There were still other places she could have been in the house, but my biggest concern was if for some reason she had gone outside. So without making a stop in between, I zipped to the front door as quickly as my hooves would take me, which I had never flung open faster in my life.

“Scyl-ya?!” I yelled out, first in fear, and then in confusion, as my gryphon partner was standing on my welcome mat, hand up in a fist as she was just about to knock.

“Hey Path,” said Anya, just as bewildered as I was in this face to face encounter, “How’re things?”

I understood how awkward this was for Anya, but finding Scylla was still my priority, so the only thing I could say in response was, “Anya, thank goodness. Did you see Scylla out here? Is she with you?”

“No,” she replied, “She’s not inside?”

“I looked in all the places she should have been,” I answered her, my worries painted all over my face, “What if she’s been kidnapped, or she’s trapped somewhere? What if she’s been abducted by diamond dogs… or wendigo?!”

“Wendigo?” Anya said with skepticism that a long since banished species had come back specifically to take one little kelpie girl from her home, “Look, I’m sure she’s around. You just go back inside and check every room, and I’ll-”

“Mommy!”

Both my and Anya’s eyes widened, both of us knowing that voice belonged to Scylla. It had come from outside to me, and I stepped out just in time to see the filly run right up to Anya from around the side of the house. Anya, a little quicker on the uptake, knelt down to greet the pint sized water pony, catching her in her arms.

“There’s my special girl,” she said, hugging Scylla tightly, “But what have we talked about? I’m not ‘mommy’, I’m ‘Anya’.”

“Sorry…” Scylla replied, a little disheartened by the correction, one she always received from the gryphon.

As a spectator to their relationship, I could understand both of their positions. For Scylla, Anya was the only adult female role model in her life. She might not have been around often, due to her taking up jobs around Equestria as security for several ponies and businesses, but she did at least show up on a somewhat regular basis, and always interacted with Scylla when she was around.

On Anya’s end, she simply didn’t want to take on the label of ‘mom’, or the responsibilities that would come with it. She was her own avian, not bound to anything, who came and went when she pleased. To accept the role as someone else’s mother felt like she would be relinquishing that freedom to someone else, and that just wasn’t the way she did things. That didn’t mean she had to be a complete bitch about the situation though, as she understood that Anya was a little girl who had certain needs, and while she wasn’t willing to be a mother, she was more than happy to be a friend and guardian to the kelpie when she was around.

I was relieved to see Scylla in Anya’s arms, but also upset that Scylla had snuck outside, seemingly on her own. “Scylla, what are you doing out here so early in the morning?”

“I wanted to check up on Mr. Caterpillar.” she replied, as if she was talking about someone I should know.

“Mr. Caterpillar?” Anya said, as curious as I was about the comment.

“Yeah, I was out in the flower garden yesterday, and I saw a caterpillar while he was wrapping himself in a cocoon. Daddy called me inside before he could finish, and I wanted to check on him to see if he turned into a butterfly yet.”

“Scylla…” I said, understanding that it was just her childish curiosity guiding her actions, “I’m glad to see you taking interest in things, but you really should have come and let me know you were going outside first. I had thought something back might have happened to you.”

“I’m sorry daddy…” she said back, truly sounding sorry about making me worry.

“Oh come on Path,” Anya said, embracing Scylla in a hug from behind as she stood up, picking up the kelpie in the process, “You think anyone is gonna mess with a scary carnivore like Scylla. If any creature came around to try and do something, she’d bite them on the butt.”

“I wouldn’t do thaaaaat.” Scylla replied, giggling as she knew Anya was just being silly.

“Ah, right,” Anya said, looking down at the child in her arms, “You’re more of a thigh girl.”

“Noooooo,” Scylla playfully refuted, always finding it funny when the gryphon treated her like a ferocious beast, despite how tiny and harmless she was.

I could see that I wasn’t going to get any further with my scolding, not when Anya was there to take Scylla’s side, and honestly I didn’t want to have to do it in the first place. I just always worried about the kelpie, and preferred to know where she was at all times.

“Scylla it’s ok that you wanted to go outside,” I said, making sure she realized that wasn’t the problem, “But Daddy needs to know when you leave the house, just to not worry him.”

“But you were working,” Scylla replied, “And I didn’t want to interrupt cause you said you were gonna be working on a special project for a while.”

I had said that, but that was a few days ago. I couldn’t blame the girl for not being considerate with a reasoning like that, or say that she didn’t listen to me. “Ok, I get,” I said, giving up for the time being, “Let’s just go back inside for now. I got breakfast ready, and you’re welcome to join Anya.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” the gryphoness said, carrying the small creature in her arms past the door frame, before setting her down so the filly could run over to the table. “Really though, I don’t understand why you are so worried,” she added, as she followed after Scylla, “Equestria is one of the safest places in the world to be in, and it’s been that way for almost a thousand years.”

Anya was right about that, for the most part. Equestria was, at the time, nearing the thousandth year of relative peace, after our Princess saved the kingdom from a threat so far in the past that the history of the event had practically faded into myth, the whole incident reduced to little more than a holiday to scare children and pass out candy. It would only be another decade and a half before that milestone was reached, all thanks to Princess Celestia’s guidance and protection.

“Just because we are in an era of peace doesn’t mean there aren’t creatures out there that would hurt a defenseless child if given the opportunity.” I said, going to the fridge to grab another fish to filet, “Something could come around and try to kidnap her, sell her into slavery, and ship her off to some place far away.”

“Oh come on, Path.” said Anya, “What are the odds of that ever happening?”

I probably was just being overprotective, but when you’re in charge of the wellbeing of someone so young, who depended on you, you often came up with the worst case scenarios.

“If anything like that happened, I’m sure Daddy or you would be there to save me.” Scylla said, shoving a piece of fish into her mouth.

“Of course we would,” Anya agreed, “You wouldn’t believe what I’d do to keep my favorite monster out of trouble.”

“Yeah, I don’t think Anya would ever let anything bad happen to you, sweetie,” I confirmed, as while the gryphon was often distant, she also was possessive over the ones she loved, in a way that she wouldn’t allow anyone to take them away without bloodshed.

As the two girls continued their conversation, I whipped up another plate of food, handing it over to Anya as I took a seat at my own plate. It was a pleasant scene, the three of us together, forming something that might resemble a family to anyone who ignored that we were three completely different species. In some ways, I did share Scylla’s sentiments about wanting Anya around, to share more moments like this, but despite being her occasional lover, I could tell that I wouldn’t be the one to tame the gryphon and get her to roost, if any creature in Equestria could ever accomplish that impossible feat.

“So it’s a weekday,” Anya stated, after slurping down one of her fried eggs, “Has Path put you into school yet?”

“Kinda,” I said before Scylla could reply, “Since I’ve got a lot of free time here, and since I work on commissions and ponies don’t need maps all the time, I thought it would be best if I taught her stuff here.”

“Home schooling, huh?” Anya said, giving me a concerned glare.

“Yup,” said Scylla, “Daddy has been teaching me math, and about pony history, and how to draw like he does.”

“Hmmm…” Anya hummed, putting a piece of fish into her beak.

“We’ve been doing fine,” I assured, “I might be a little dumb at times, but I can teach anything a first grader should know.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Anya said, “You do have the free time and the minimum amount of brains to teach a little girl.”

“Geez, thanks.” I replied, biting into an apple slice. It was a joke, but Anya’s belittling humor stung sometimes.

“I think Daddy is a really good teacher,” Scylla said, coming to my defense, “The best one I’ve ever had.”

“The ONLY one you’ve ever had,” Anya corrected.

“And that makes him the best,” Scylla re-confirmed, reaching around the table to give me a hug.

“I see her indoctrination is complete,” Anya said, still joking, a small smirk formed at the ends of her beak.

“In… doc… ree… nation?” questioned the kelpie, having never heard the word before.

“It means she’s jealous.” I slid in quickly, wanting to get back a little for her previous comment about my intelligence.

“I am not jealous,” Anya said, folding her arms as she turned away, “I don’t need hugs all the time like a certain pegasus.” Anya had closed her eyes, pretending to be standoffish, but I could see the tiny slit she kept open between her eyelids, keeping an eye on Scylla to see what she’d do next.

What happened was to be expected of a child as pure hearted as Scylla, and she got out of her seat, ran around the table, and right to the gryphon to freely grant the avian the blessing of her embrace.

“Don’t be jelly,” Scylla said, knowing what ‘jealous’ meant, but not yet being able to pronounce it correctly, “I’ll give you and Daddy as many hugs as you want.”

Anya couldn’t help but to laugh, patting the filly on the head, “You’re a good kid. Maybe a little too good. I’m starting to think your dad is right. Somepony is going to snatch you up someday, and there’s not going to be anything he can do about it.”

“Noooooooooooooooooo,” Scylla said, playing along, while burying her face into Anya’s lap, flicking her dolphin-like tail side to side, exposing how happy she was just being around Anya.

While Scylla was enjoying the attention she was receiving, something about what Anya said struck a chord with me, and I pouted a little. I understood she wasn’t talking about kidnappers this time, her double speak alluding to a more wholesome method of somepony taking Scylla away, but the thought still dampened my mood. It didn’t go unnoticed either, as Anya spotted my face turn to a slightly grim expression.

“Hey munchkin,” Anya said to Scylla, “Do you mind going to your room and playing with your toys for a while? Your dad and I need to talk about some adult stuff.”

Scylla lifted her head up from the gryphon’s lap, her mouth forming a flat line. She didn’t want to be left out, but whatever Anya wanted to say wasn’t for her ears.

“Come on, just one little conversation, and I’ll spend the rest of the day with you.” Anya added.

“Okaaaay…” Scylla said, accepting Anya’s terms half-heartedly, before walking to her room, shutting the door behind her.

“Something you wanted to talk to me about?” I asked after the door was closed.

“It’s not the reason I came today,” Anya replied, downing what was left on her plate, “I really did just come to see what you and Scylla were up to. That aside, I think you and I need to talk.”

“Ok then, talk.” I said, as there was no avoiding this conversation now that Anya was set on having it, whatever it was.

“Not in here,” Anya said, “I know a CERTAIN LITTLE RAT IS LISTENING IN!”

As Anya said that aloud, the sound of quickly moving hooves came from the direction of Scylla’s door, the kelpie apparently wanting to know what the two adult figures in her life were talking about without her present.

“Let’s go outside,” the gryphon directed, getting up out of her seat, and heading out the door.

I got up and went after her immediately, curious as to what she felt we needed to talk about.

“So…” Anya said as she leaned against a tree, the two of us now far away from the house, “How are things for you, Path?”

“Is that what you wanted to talk about?” I asked, not seeing how that was something Scylla didn’t need to hear.

“No, but I want to break the ice a little bit.” she replied, “You and Scylla look like you're doing well. Your shop been paying the bills?”

“Ahh, yeah. You know the map making business isn’t going to make me rich anytime soon, but it gets us by. That and…”

“And what? You didn’t take out a loan, did you?”

My eyes widened with that accusation, “Are you kidding? The only thing I have of value is the house, and I’d rather starve to feed Scylla than risk having her without a home.”

“Then you’ve found something else?” Anya questioned.

“Some ponies have been asking me to try sketching some other things than maps,” I said, “Just small projects, like linework for art. Some even asked me to paint some pictures of landmarks for them.”

“I wonder why. Not that I don’t think you could do it, but you’re not exactly a painter, and you ponies usually hire other ponies based on their special talents… Or on stereotypes.”

“Ya, you’re right…” I agreed, knowing the work was outside my dedicated field of expertise, “But honestly, I think they feel the same way you do. Friends and locals worried about my living conditions.”

“And… do they know about Scylla?” Anya inquired, not knowing how I have been handling the situation. “You’re not hiding her away every time the bell over your door rings, are you?”

“What? No.” I replied, being honest, “Everypony in town knows about Scylla.”

“Do they know why she is living with you?” Anya pressed further.

I took a deep breath, “Not exactly. They just know that I’m her guardian, and that I’ve been looking for her real parents for a while.”

“That might actually be for the best,” Anya said, agreeing with how I handled the situation, “Probably wouldn’t be a good idea to say you kidnapped her, on purpose or not.”

“Yeah…” I likewise agreed, “And because they know I’m taking care of a child, they’ve been trying to help me out. I don’t accept handouts, but I said that if they want to give me money, then I’d happily do work for it.”

“Look at you,” Anya said, a smile appearing on her beak, “In a position a gryphon would be happy to have, and you turn it down for hand cramping labor.”

“We ponies just like to do what we were born to do,” I explained, “And I’m not personally fond of taking things for nothing.”

“I have something else to ask you, since you seem ok financially.” said Anya, “What was going on when I caught you at the front door?”

“I told you what was going on.” I said back, “I couldn’t find Scylla, and I got worried about her cause it wasn’t even breakfast yet. I think a parent has a duty to worry about the wellbeing of their child.”

Anya sighed, “That’s the thing. You’re not a parent, and that’s not your child. As much as I like Scylla, the fact still remains that she had real parents out there, and…”

“And what?” I said, now a little annoyed with my avian friend. I didn’t get mad over much, but matters concerning Scylla often sparked my emotions.

“Do you still take walks with her down that river?” Anya asked, sounding really concerned.

My emotions started to well up with that question, but I choked them back down in order to say back, “Yes. I make it an issue to go back at least once a week.”

“So you still have it in your head that you might still find her parents, and return her to them. It’s been four years, Path, and what if you actually find them?”

“Then I’ll give her back.” I said without hesitation, that always having been one of my goals with Scylla.

“And if you do that, what does that mean for both of you?” Anya replied, “To her, you’re the only father she knows. She calls you ‘Daddy’, and you allow it, knowing she’s not really your daughter. How do you think she’d feel now if you just handed her over to a couple of monsters just because you happen to run into her parents again?”

I couldn’t disagree with what Anya was saying, because I always had the mindset that I would just give Scylla back to her parents the moment I found them. At this point though, I was the only real parent she knew, a role I took because I believed that every child should have some sort of parent they grew up with.

“You know kelpies aren’t monsters,” I said, the only response I could think of to object with what she had said, being put on the defense.

“You are basing that on Scylla,” Anya said, “But you remember what Gruff said. Kelpies are killers, and if you do give her back, odds are Scylla would be raised to be a killer too.”

Again, I couldn’t argue with that possibility. Many creatures kill to survive, from kelpie to chimera.

“But that’s not even the issue I’m worried about,” Anya said, “If you gave her back to her parents, and she was to grow up to be just like the book said, then fine. That’s just how things are. The problem is how attached you are, while still following through with this plan. Let’s say she was kidnapped earlier. What would you do?”

“I’d go and look for her, of course.” I answered, saying the reasonable response, “And then I’d bring her back.”

“Even if the kidnapper turned out to be her parents?” Anya said, “If you’re still looking for them, then there is a good chance they are still looking for her, and if they ever found out where she lived, then they’re probably not going to want to have a nice conversation with her kidnapper. They could just snatch her back, and if that happens…”

For a moment, Anya fell silent, thoughts going through her own mind as she processed what that kind of event would mean to her.

“I just don’t want this to end up with either of you getting hurt,” she said, somber in her tone, “I would gut anycreature who’d even try it, but right now I think that you’re the one setting the two of you up to feel some pain.”

“Maybe you’re right,” I said, seeing Anya’s point, “Maybe I’m getting too attached, but it’s like you said. It’s been four years, I might never find her real parents, and I can’t just tell her to stop treating me like a parent when I’m the only one she’s ever known. I’m not like you. I can’t just keep her at a safe distance when I’m always around her.”

“Then perhaps it’s time you looked into the idea of just keeping her,” Anya said, “And I’d support that decision. To tell the truth, she’s probably better off with you than anypony else, since you’re being so responsible with her.”

“I… Don’t know if I can make that call yet.” I said, “It would be like admitting I failed her.”

“You haven’t failed her,” Anya said, dismissing the thought, “You’ve done more for that filly than most would have, and the fact that you are taking care of her so well shows that you care.”

“You’re still right though,” I conceded, “If her parents tried to take her back by snatching her up, It’d probably devastate me. As much as I would want her to be with her real parents, I’m always afraid that one day she’d be gone… and I’ll never be able to say goodbye.”

“Oh, Path…” Anya said, removing herself from the tree she was leaning on, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as she lead me back towards the house, “You just keep convincing me that you’re the best father that little mare could ask for.”

As we went back inside, the first thing that caught our eye was Scylla in the middle of the living area, crayons in hand, using them on a picture in a coloring book I had gotten her. She had gotten bored, and since me and Anya went outside, there was no reason to stay in her room.

She was the first to notice us though, and said, “Welcome back,” as she looked up from her freshly filled in image of a dog being taken for a walk. “Are you two ok?”

I wasn’t sure if Scylla could pick up that we were both a little sullen from our conversation, or was only wondering if said conversation was the result of something bad that had happened between us adults.

“It’s nothing, sweetie,” I told her, going to our livingroom seat, finding a spot on it, which Anya then took the next space over, “Anya just wanted to make sure we were both doing well, since she hadn’t seen us for a while.”

“If you’re worried about us,” Scylla said, looking at the gryphon, “You could always stay to look over Daddy and me.”

“Sorry munchkin,” Anya said rejecting the offer, “I’ve got a new job that’s gonna take up some of my time starting tomorrow. Some mare wants me to go with her to some old pony temple to make sure nopony interferes with her while she’s exploring it. You know those adventurous types, always going at it with one another on their treasure hunts.”

“Then maybe we can come with you!” Scylla said excited, a sparkle in her eye at the idea of exploring an abandoned pony landmark.

“No can do,” Anya refused again, “It’s too dangerous, and I don’t think my employer would like me bringing tagalongs, especially one so prone to danger as your dad.”

“Anya’s right,” I agreed, “A filly your age shouldn’t be putting herself in danger. Leave that kind of stuff to adults, ok?” Scylla’s face puffed up a little at my answer, not liking that the adults had coordinated their responses against her. “But how about this. Anya will stay here all day to make up for the time she’s missed out with you.”

“I will?” Anya replied, this becoming one of the rare moments that I managed to say something that put her off guard.

“Like you said, the job isn’t till tomorrow, and you can at least stay till nightfall.” I said, having realized that the reason Anya stopped by was to see us before she left, in case something happened to her, “But we’d both be more than happy to have you stay the night, if you could.”

“Pleeeeaaaassseeee,” Scylla said, picking herself off the floor to jump up into Anya’s lap, “I want to show you everything Daddy has been teaching me.”

“Fine, fine,” Anya relented, “But just for today. I really will have to get going tomorrow.”

“YAY!” Scylla yelled, twisting her body around to hug the gryphon.

As I took in the scene of the two interacting, I couldn’t help but feel happy. It was the kind of happiness I never wanted to let go of, and I knew that I could only ever feel this way with Scylla around. Perhaps it was time to just accept her as my daughter. I had spent so many years with no results, and Anya might have been right that living with other Kelpies would only ruin her. I’d have to give it some more thought, but I was really starting to lean towards that option.

At that moment though, I didn’t want to come to a final decision, and instead just wanted to bask in the adorability of this little girl who had brightened my life so much.

The Decision

For the rest of the day, Scylla did her best to entertain our gryphon guest with anything she could think of, from showing off the new toys she had gotten from me, to sharing crafts that she had been working on in her free time, and getting small games for us all to play together. It was a fairly amusing display from the little kelpie, and even more amusing watching Anya try to keep up with it all. It was so rare to see Anya in a situation where she didn’t have control, and that it was a little filly making her do all this stuff added a bit of humor to it all.

Scylla had worked so hard to squeeze in as many activities into the small amount of time she had with the older female, that when it came time for Princess Celestia to lower the sun and raise the moon, the kelpie found herself struggling to both think of more things to do with Anya, and to keep her eyes open to continue. When the yawns started coming, I announced that it was time for bed, directing Scylla to the bathroom, while having to drag Anya in with us for a group brushing of our teeth and beak.

Once done with pre-bed rituals, I guided Scylla to bed, watching the kelpie climb under her blanket, tucking her in tightly so I knew she’d be warm. “Pleasant dreams, my little angel fish.” I told her, before giving her a small kiss on the forehead. I was rewarded with a soft giggle for my efforts, as Scylla snuggled up into her bed and closed her eyes.

This was all being observed by Anya from the doorway, who gave me a bemused look for my parent act. She might have been harsh with me outside about the situation, but the stern and serious gryphon had to give into the cuteness of this affectionate display.

“So, did you want me to sleep on the couch tonight, or would you like to share the bed with me?” I asked after shutting the door, slightly hoping to share some alone time with her.

“Actually, I think I’m gonna head out,” Anya replied, already making her way to the door, “I really do need to get ready in the morning, and that means collecting all my stuff and heading out to meet my client.”

“You know Scylla’s gonna be sad you left before she could say goodbye,” I told her, admittedly trying to get the gryphon to stay more for my sake.

“She probably already knows that I’ll be gone in the morning,” Anya replied, shooting down my attempt to guilt her, “She’s a smart girl, I think she realizes that she failed to tire me out before it was time to go to sleep.”

I had to concede to Anya’s desire to leave, as I had even less sway over convincing her on anything than Scylla did, her willful gryphon nature unmoved by my wishes. “Ok, then have a safe trip. Be careful out there though. Don’t let this be the last time we see you.”

“I will be,” Anya said, though she knew as much as I did that in her line of work, she didn’t have final say on if she’d return or not. That tiny bit of reassurance was the best she could offer though.

Giving me a kiss similar to the one I had given Scylla, except that it was directed to my lips, she opened the front door, and flew into the night. I watched as she became nothing more than a black dot in the night sky, and then merged with the darkness. At that point, I had little left to do, save for go and join Scylla in sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to find Scylla already in the living room, working on some worksheets I had prepared for her. I took a brief moment to go over what she had already done, seeing that her addition and subtraction had no errors, and that she had a pretty good grasp on key events of Equestria’s founding, though put Chancellor Puddinghead’s name down as ‘Puddlehead’. She was having a small bit of trouble in alchemical chemistry, but I had trouble with that as a kid too, so I cut her some slack when it came to that subject.

I continued to let her wrap her head around that topic, so I went to prepare a nice breakfast for the both of us. Some bran cereal and milk, with a topping of bananas and strawberries, and a side of egg, something we both could enjoy together. I called Scylla over just as she got to her last assignment of the day, which was reading a chapter of a book as her reading and critical thinking lessons, and she happily left the living room table to come sit with me.

“So how long will it be until we see Anya again?” she casually asked, taking up her spoon, scooping up a nice combination of the things in her cereal bowl before taking a bite.

“You know her,” I answered, taking my own seat, “She comes and goes as she pleases. She’ll be in the middle of work too, so I bet it will be at least a month.”

“Well then next time she’s here, we’ll have to make her stay for a week to make up for it,” Scylla said, treating it like it wouldn’t be a request.

I had to chuckle, because if anyone in Equestria would be able to get Anya to stick around that long without some sort of compensation, it would be the filly sitting at the table, playfully pushing strawberry slices around in her milk.

“So Scylla… Would you like to go for a walk with me down that river? The one I used to take you to all the time?”

The kelpie filly looked up from her food bewildered, “Why are you asking me?”

“Well… why shouldn’t I ask you?” I said to her, “You’re the most important person in this family, after all.”

“No I’m not, daddy. You’re the one who takes care of us, so you’re more important.” she said with a giggle, realizing this was just a little joke, and that we both were just as important as the other. “It’s just… You usually just take me to the river with you when you want to go there. You’ve never asked me if I wanted to go before.”

I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that she caught onto something like that. She might have been young, but she picked up on things quickly. I didn’t know if that was a kelpie trait, or if I had actually done something right when raising her, but I wanted to believe it was the later. Her awareness aside, I guess I just wanted a reason not to go, having taken what Anya had said to me the evening before to heart.

“But yeah, we can go.” Scylla said, “I know you like that place a lot.”

I stifled what would have been a small groan, as she never learned the reason I always took her there.

“Then hurry up and finish your food.” I said, “That way we can get out there and maybe be back for lunch.”

Though as I instructed her to eat quicker, I started to slow my own pace. I had plans for this particular outing, and hoped that the results of our trek along that familiar river bank would be no different than usual, but couldn’t help but dread the idea that today might be the day I finally reunited Scylla with her rightful parents.

An hour later, Scylla and I were in the skies over Equestria. Having wings, flight was the best way of getting around, and using a harness that pegasi used to carry around foals too young to fly, I could take along a filly sized passenger. She was a little heavier than a pegasus her age would have been, but my wings had a lot of practice carrying around the extra weight.

I wasn’t the only one who had practice with this experience, as Scylla was enjoying herself, arms out at full spread, pretending she was gliding on them like wings. For some reason, she never had a fear of flying, calling her imitation of it ‘sky swimming’, claiming that the wind currents flowed over her like running water. It was an equation I suppose only an aquatic creature could come up with, and incredibly adorable to see in action. It was a shame to bring it to an end as we made it to our destination.

Landed at one end of the river, making sure to touch down softly for the sake of my passenger, I knelt down until her hooves touched the slightly damp soil a few feet away from the water. A few undone buckles later, and we were both detached from one another, ready to take a leisurely stroll down through the place where I first found her.

“Ok, you know the rules, right?” I asked, wanting to be sure that she understood what was expected of her.

“Rule one, keep hold of daddy’s hand till the walk is over.” Scylla said, coming to me to place her tiny hand into my own. “Rule two, don’t go into the water unless daddy says it’s ok.”

Since Scylla was an aquatic species, her desire to go into large bodies of water was somewhat instinctual. Several times I had to stop her from slipping into the river of her own accord, worried that she might disappear under the stream and never come back up, for more reasons than just her parents finding her.

“Rule three, if anyone approaches us on the trail, then keep calm and let daddy talk to them.”

That rule might have been made a bit scarier than it could have been, but if we were spotted by an angry kelpie father, I wanted Scylla to be a little prepared for what could happen. Personally, I was expecting to get the beating of a lifetime, and that was being optimistic after years of separation brought upon by my mistake. I could only hope that I’d be left alive, if only because the monster that was birth father would realize I had taken good care of her, or that he didn’t wish for his daughter to see him murder somepony in front of her, if for what might be the most righteous of reasons.

“That’s a good girl,” I said, glad to see that Scylla had remembered all the rules, though with as many times as we had taken this walk I probably shouldn’t have thought she wouldn’t.

Steeling my nerves for the unlikely event that this would be the day that I’d finally have to say goodbye to the young girl who had been living with me for the past four years, and began walking down the riverside one more time, Scylla matching my pace as we began our hike. I positioned myself closest to the river, for several reasons, all of which involved protecting the filly in my care from any form of harm.

As we traveled down what would end up being a mile or two of untended terrain, having to walk through plants and around tree branches that grew along the riverside. While I had to put some effort into maneuvering through these obstacles, Scylla was small enough that she could slip past any minor obstructions, and light enough that I could help her get over anything that was too big. When she was younger, I used to carry her the whole way, until she got to a point that she wanted to start climbing and walking herself.

The best part was that she really did seem to take to it, the activity of the hike, and seeing the wonders that the wilds had to show. Her eyes would dart around to take in the beauty of nature, from the trees, to the bugs, to the fish and birds that would occasionally jump out of the water or fly out of a tree to try and eat said bugs, and that enjoyment was something that stuck with her. The filly had certainly acquired an appreciation for the world of ponies she had been brought up in, and I couldn’t help but take some pride in the enjoyment and happiness that it brought her.

As we made around the halfway point, Scylla started to look a little fatigued, and started to catch her eying up the river constantly. I knew what this was, as it was something that I’ve learned about her as she was growing up. She was wanting to get some water, or to put it more accurately, her body needed moisture. Her body didn’t need to be wet all the time, despite what one might think of an aquatic creature, but submerging herself in water was something she enjoyed doing at least once a day, and the more activity she did, the more she’d want to take a dip.

“I see ya,” I said, letting her know that I was being attentive to her needs. I stopped to allow ourselves a break from hiking, and reached for a small bottle I had in my pocket, “Wait right here.”

“Ok,” Scylla said cheerfully, familiar with this routine.

With her agreeing to stay put, I approached the river, unscrewing the spray nozzle it had atop it. With it removed, I gave the water a scrutinizing glance from a safe distance, in case I’d notice something aside from my own reflection staring back at me, but once I was sure it was ok to approach, I knelt down at the bankside, and quickly allowed the slight muddy water to flow into the bottle.

Thankfully, this went without incident, though my heart was racing for the few seconds it took to fill the container. The reward was worth the moment of stress though, as I received the cutest “Thank you” in exchange for the water, said in an inflection that was utter like a two word song. Scylla then took the bottle, and started spraying its contents all over herself, misting it over her body as if it were a perfume, continuing to do so as we proceeded down the path, till her body and upper part of her body and dress had a thin coat of saturation.

Once that was done, I took something out of my other pocket, a small carton of grape juice to make sure her insides would get proper hydration as well. Seeing it, she happily exchanged the spray bottle for it. It took her a little bit to remove the straw glued to the box, and poke it through the flimsy material used to seal the carton, but once it went through there was no delay in her placing her free hand back into my own, as she greedily drank down the contents of box. It was whimsical to watch her, to experience the carefree actions of a foal by proxy, and I couldn’t help but feel a deep well of joy.

“So daddy,” she said, getting to the halfway point of her juice, “Why do you like coming here?”

“Well…” I replied, not really wanting to tell her the real reason we’ve passed through here so many times, “Don’t you think this place is neat? The plants, the animals, the river.”

“I like the river,” Scylla said, taking another sip of her drink, “But you never let me go near it. Is there something wrong with it?”

“Not with the river,” I answered, not wanting Scylla to be afraid of a part of nature that, in itself, couldn’t harm a creature like herself, “But I had a bad experience with it once, and I don’t want that to happen to you.”

“What happened?” Scylla asked, as it would be impossible for someone not to be curious when given a vague response like that.

“Well…” I said, hesitating a little, “One time I was here doing my job, and I saw this really interesting little fish next to the shore. When I went to get a closer look though, this bigger, scarier fish popped out of the water and attacked me.”

“That’s silly,” said Scylla, certainly picturing something like a bass jumping up to slap me in the face, “You think the little fish was its baby, and it was protecting it?”

That question made me become a bit coy, seeing how spot on it was, “I think so. Parents can be really protective of their kids…”

“Like you with me, daddy?” Scylla asked, though it sounded like a statement of fact the way she put it.

“Sorta,” I replied, “I certainly wouldn’t let anything hurt you, if I was able to stop it.”

“I know,” Scylla replied, “You’ve always taken good care of me.”

Hearing the kelpie say gave me a little more comfort, guiding me towards a decision I was trying to come to. The truth was that I was thinking of making this the last time we would take this walk, and that I’d just come to terms with my mistake by finalizing my adoption of the filly I had accidentally abducted. It was not the outcome that I had wanted from the beginning, but maybe destiny had put the two of us together for some reason. While I didn’t want to demonize her birth parents, the truth of the matter was that kelpies were notoriously hostile, and maybe a force out there wanted a different life for Scylla. At the time, that mindset was just me trying to rationalize more and more how this was all a good thing, but was it so bad to believe that as the truth?

We walked a bit further, and curiosity built up in the filly again, “So do you ever think that you’ll see that fish again?”

“I had kinda hoped I would someday,” I replied, talking about the bigger fish that, unbeknownst to Scylla, was her father, though in retrospect she was probably talking about the small fish that she likewise didn’t know was her, “But I honestly think that it’s gone. Even if I did see it again, I’m not sure what I’d do.”

“You could draw a picture of it,” Scylla suggested, “And then we could put it up on the wall next to my drawings.”

“I don’t know if this fish would sit still long enough to let me do that,” I replied, having no doubt in my mind that who I was talking about would never allow that.

“I could go in and make it hold still,” Scylla said, her skin shifting to a pale green, as she transformed into her full kelpie visage, looking like a gaunt water monster, her eyes black and sunken into her head. “I bet one look at me, and it would be scared stiff.”

I was caught off guard for a moment as she shifted her form, startled by the sudden change, which made Scylla laugh as she turned back. “You really need to warn me when you’re about to do that.” I said, though knowing the whole point of the transformation this time was to spook me in order to make her point.

She didn’t often use this ability of hers, as we have had issues with it in the past, when she’d get upset in public and change involuntarily. The first time she was old enough to realize she had done it, she cried for an hour because she thought something was wrong with her, but then I had a long talk with her to explain that it was natural for a kelpie, and that she would turn back in time. By next morning she found out I wasn’t lying, as she had reverted back to her less horrific appearance after a nice night of rest.

After that all she could think about for the next few days was how to control it, and while I had always found these dramatic changes to be linked to her emotional state, she eventually figured out how to change her appearance without being upset. Now that she mostly had control though, and knew that it was natural for her species, the form mostly came out for small pranks, except when she accidentally slipped into it during moments of anger. Personally, I was just thankful that all this didn’t lead into a conversation about why she was a kelpie, if she had a pegasus for a dad. Then again, it wasn’t uncommon to see mix matched pony parents and children, so she might not have seen it strange at all that I was an avian, and she was a water based creature.

A few more hours passed, and we had finally made it to the point where I usually called it quits for our hike. A place that was pretty special, as it was the very spot where I first found her.

Scylla didn’t know that little detail, but what she did know was that when we got to this point, it was time for her and I to take a break, before packing up and heading home. Her own legs having become tired from a long day of walking, the tiny kelpie slipped out of my hand hold, and went to a large tree nearby that she knew we’d be sitting under, having to drape her dolphin-like tail over one of the exposed roots that were popped up out of the ground around it.

I would soon join her, but first I wanted to give the river one last check, and by that I really did mean one final look, to see if somehow the stars would align after all this time, and I’d see an older kelpie in the water. I scanned the surface of the water at least a half a dozen times, but if there was somepony in there, I didn’t know, and they weren’t making any efforts to reveal themselves. So, finally relenting on my four year long quest, I gave up the search.

Accepting this outcome, even if it was less than satisfying, I went to join with Scylla, sitting aside her, with only another one of those exposed roots separating us. “Did you enjoy yourself today?”

“It was fun,” she replied, though it didn’t really seem like a sincere response. More like a ‘I know it makes you happy, so I’m happy’ response.

“Are you sure?” I asked, “Cause I was thinking that after all the times we’ve done this, you’d have gotten bored of it.”

“Well…” she started, drawing out the word a little, “Maybe it’s a little boring. We’ve seen pretty much everything here so many times, and the walk is always so long.”

I gave a small sigh to myself, knowing that I had just coaxed Scylla into giving me the last excuse I needed. “Well then, to be honest I was thinking you might not like coming here anymore. I’m trying to decide if this should be the last time we do it.”

The visible reaction I got from that was not what I was hoping for, as a disheartened frown lightly formed on her lips. “Does that mean that we won’t go out to do stuff together anymore?”

“No, no,” I replied, objecting to the very notion, “Just that we could maybe go someplace else for a change.”

“Where would we go?” Scylla said, both curious and excited about the idea of seeing other places.

“Well, we could go anywhere,” I answered, “We could take a tour of Canterlot, or maybe go hiking on a mountain, or…”

“Could we go to a beach to go swimming?” Scylla said, tossing in her own suggestion. Of course she’d want to do something that involved direct contact with water.

“Sure,” I said, seeing nothing wrong with the suggestion, “But I’m surprised you wouldn’t rather go to a water park.”

“Maybe we can do that when Anya comes back from work,” the kelpie answered, “But we’ve never been to the ocean, and I’ve always wanted to go.”

“Then I’ll figure out when’s the soonest we can go,” I said in agreement, thinking that Scylla deserved to have this small wish granted for my failure, “But we’ll have to set up some rules for the visit.”

“Ok!” Scylla agreed cheerfully, knowing that I was only looking out for her, and just happy that she would be able to go to a beach. She was so happy with the idea that she went over the root separating us, so she could give me the biggest sideways hug she could manage at that angle.

That sign of her affection finally sealed the deal with me, as I embedded the idea in my mind that Scylla was now my daughter. Anya had been right, that I would have been devastated had the young filly left my life, even if I had the closure of returning her to her rightful parents. So while us coming together was caused by a terrible mistake, it was both the worst and best mistake I had ever made, destiny putting us together so we could become a family.

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” I said, playfully slipping out of her hug, “We need to pack up and head home.”

Scylla got up from where she was sitting, stretching her muscles, before taking a few half skips towards the river, “Before we go, can I do something first?”

“What is it?” I asked, as I readied the straps on my flight harness.

“Since this is our last time coming here, could I go and touch the water before we go?”

This request was a little harder to agree to, since I had finally made up my mind about being the filly’s permanent dad, and I didn’t want some twist of fate to end up separating us. All my reservations crumbled though, when faced with her pleading eyes.

“Sure…” I said, “But let me go with you. I don’t want you getting dragged away if that big fish shows up.”

“Daddy, you’re silly.” she said, though doing as I said and waiting for me to go with her.

Together we approached the river, and with only a brief pause to once more make sure there was nothing more than actual fish swimming about in it, I led Scylla into it, holding her hand as tightly as I could without hurting her.

I entered slowly, dipping one hoof in first to make sure the water wasn’t too deep, then the other once I saw it only went halfway up to my knee. Once I was in, Scylla wasted no time hopping in herself, making a big splash on her entry, not caring that she was getting me wet in the process. The cold water on my body would have provided a good excuse for the light shiver I was getting, but Scylla didn’t even bother asking about it as she made the most of her time in the water, kicking up her hooves in it to play around in it as much as she could.

She tried to submerge herself once, but I prevented that by keeping my body standing up straight. “Scylla, don’t forget I have to fly you home, and if you get your clothes wet, it’s gonna make you a lot heavier than usual.”

“Ah!” Scylla said, not realizing that when she had tried to dunk herself, and not questioning that as the reason I stopped her, “Then…”

The kelpie swished her tail around in the water a bit, since no liquids would cling to her hairless skin. Scylla did this until she felt something in the water, and using the fin at the end of her tail, she lifted a small, but sizable rock.

“Here we go,” she said, carefully balancing it on her tail end as she guided me back to the shore, “Something I can use to remember all the times we came here.”

As we left the water, a huge weight felt like it had fallen off my shoulders. I was glad to be out, and that all Scylla wanted from the venture into the water was a small memento of this place, which held more importance to her than she could possibly know. Once back at the river bank, Scylla handed her newly found possession to me for safe keeping, which I stored into my pocket.

“It’s time to head home,” I said, to which I received a small nod of agreement from my now permanent ward.

I spent the next few minutes strapping her back into the flight harness, and once I made sure she was safely buckled in, I stood up straight, lifting the filly up off the ground with only my upper body. I then spread my wings, ready to take off and finalize this last trip. Before I could give a flap though, Scylla surprised me by lifting up her hand.

“Goodbye, river!” she said, waving to the water as if she was bidding farewell to a friend, “I’ll come back and see you again sometime.”

Scylla probably thought that I wasn’t serious about this being the absolute last time we came back, but for me that was absolutely the case for me. Now that I had accepted Scylla as my own, I never wanted to return to this place on the off chance that something would happen that would make me regret cementing my feelings towards the girl, as a parental figure.

However, for Scylla’s sake, I would play along, if only to keep this from becoming a sad moment for her. I raise my own hand, and waved as well, saying “Goodbye, river” in as cheerful a tone as I could manage. Once done, I flapped my wings, and rose the two of us into the sky. I got away form that spot as fast as the winds would take me, Scylla unaware that this was anything more significant than us going home after a long day of activity.

When we got home, I got right to work setting up lunch, which would be some freshly cooked hamburgers for the two of us, with a side of toast and zap apple jam, and some orange juice for the two of us.

As I cooked, Scylla pulled out the paints from my art supply, asking permission to use them first, and got to work personalizing her rock. She started by giving it a complete covering of blue, to indicate that the rock was one that came from the water I assume, and then used some white to paint two circles onto it, before putting two black circles within them. By the time she got to using the red and yellow, I figured out her crafts project was making a face for the piece of granite.

“What’s a good name for a rock?” she asked, painting a small tongue sticking out of the mouth.

“What about ‘Boulder’?” I answered, just trying to think of something related to stones.

“He’s not big enough to be a boulder,” Scylla said, dismissing my suggestion, “How about… Rocky?”

“Rocky’s too obvious,” I said, knowing that it was far too common to name a rock that. “What about… Dolomite? It’s a type of rock found near the water.”

“That name sounds too intense for a plain rock like this,” Scylla said, “I think I’ll go with… Joe.”

“Joe?” I said, bringing over a plate of food for Scylla, setting it next to her, opposite of her paints. “Oooohh, I think I get it. Like ‘geode’, but making it a normal name.”

“Yup!” she said, adding the final touches to Joe, “I wonder if he’s got gems inside.”

“Probably not,” I said, getting to work on making my plate, “And I don’t think you’ll want to crack him open to find out.”

“Don’t even suggest that!” Scylla said, huddling over Joe to protect him, “I’m gonna keep Joe safe in my room from here on out.”

I chuckled, because I found myself thinking the same thing about the kelpie filly sitting at my table. From now on, she would be safe with me, and I would protect her from any harm that might come to her. That was the promise I made to myself… as Scylla’s father.

The Beach Episode

“Wooooooow,” that was the first thing Scylla said upon seeing the crystal clear body of water that was the ocean, followed up immediately by, “It’s so big!”

It had been a month or so since our last trip to the river, and as I promised, I had taken the young kelpie to the vacation destination she desired. Scylla looked so happy as she ran towards the sparkling water, her hooves dispersing the sand as she left my side.

“Remember to stay close!” I yelled, pleased to see my now fully adopted daughter in such high spirits, “And watch out that you don’t hit the other ponies here with your tail!”

The warning was near instantly neglected, as Scylla spun around to yell back to me, “I will!” only to hit one of the other beach goers who were resting in their chair right in the face. Her eyes went wide immediately as she felt the contact, and with a sheepish expression, Scylla turned to face the adult mare she had accidentally struck, holding her tail in hand as she gave a brief “I’m sorry” before running off to not suffer the consequences.

I followed the filly’s path, carrying all of the beach equipment i had purchased for the outing, and thus ended up walking right by the victim of Scylla’s random tail attack. “Yeah, really sorry about that. She sometimes loses track of where her tail is around others.”

The mare gave me a disgruntled look, and a ‘hmph’ in response, before going back to their sunbathing. Honestly, I was glad that was all I got, since her reaction could have been worse. Not just because she could have chewed me out more thoroughly, but because I didn’t know how others would have reacted to my fishy filly’s presence.

When we first arrived, I was already having second thoughts. I had picked a more public place, a beach on the coastline of South Luna Sea, a place near Las Pegasus. When we arrived I saw that there were far more ponies there than I expected, which was stupid of me seeing as it was near a resort destination, but seeing them reminded me that not everypony was as familiar with seeing a kelpie among them as the ponies in our hometown of Vanhoover.

This was back in a time when most ponies would go into hysterics if they saw a zebra come to town, so I was worried that an even rarer species of pony might cause some problems. If Scylla hadn’t ran out when she did, I might have developed second thoughts about spending the day here, but when no pony expressed concern for a furless, dolphin tailed filly running about, I calmed my doubts. Some would turn to give her a quick stare, which Scylla was too preoccupied to notice back, but each seemed to brush it off.

Counting my blessings, and thanking that Scylla was too cute for ponies to be worried about, I found one of the few remaining empty spots of beach where I could put our stuff, never taking more than one eye off of the miniature mare I have claimed responsibility over as I placed down our blanket and set up a sun umbrella.

Scylla had, as expected, ran right out to the shore, leaping into the shallow section of sea water to get her hooves wet. I had gotten her a new outfit for the occasion, consisting of a pure white sun dress, a straw sunhat to help her keep the sun out of her eyes. It was a simple combo that iconically brought out the cute features of girls her age, which for Scylla was on full display as she splashed around without a care in the world.

“Hey Scylla!” I called out to get her attention, “We’re setting up over here!”

Hearing my voice, Scylla left the waters and ran over to join back up with me, “Daddy, the water feels warm, and it’s different from the river and bath water. Like it’s grainy.”

“You’re probably feeling the salt in the water,” I said, making an educated guess on the situation, “Ocean water is a bit different from freshwater, and different types of fish live in both because of that.”

“Is that why you wanted me to practice holding my breath underwater?” Scylla asked, referring to a little exercise I had her do the weeks prior to our trip.

“You got it,” I answered. It was clear that Scylla’s reason for wanting to go to the beach was so she could swim in it, but I didn’t know if her gills could filter out the brine properly to let her breath underwater. I just wanted to be safe in the event that she found the salt and plankton too much for her. “But you might not have to actually use that if you can breath despite it. A little test couldn’t hurt, right?”

Scylla nodded, but at this time I really wished that I would have consulted with Grandpa Gruff first. Normally if I had any questions about kelpie, he would be the one I’d go talk to, but he had been busy with his own ward this month, prepping her for junior speedster’s school. I would have hated to postpone our beach outing longer and disappoint Scylla, so this once I decided to wing it, and bring plenty of fresh water with us in the event that something went wrong.

I grabbed a couple of bottles of the unsalted liquid, while Scylla removed her dress and hat to reveal the one piece bathing suit she had on underneath. The polyester fabric was light pink, a color I picked so it wouldn’t bleed through the white material as she wore the suit as an undergarment. Packing the dress away, the two of us made our way to the ocean, to see if there were going to be any problems with the kelpie’s excursion out into the water.

The two of us found a spot along the shore that had less traffic than most, and together waded in till the water got to Scylla’s stomach and up above my knees. With water bottles in hand, I got behind the young filly, bent down, and put my arms forearms into her armpits.

“Ok, I want you to lower yourself into the water, and breathe it in slowly.” I instructed, hoping that this wasn’t a mistake.

Scylla did as she was told, bending her knees and her stomach to submerge her face and neck into the sea. She left a small part of her gills about the water, allowing me to watch as she took her breathes, and from what I could tell nothing bad was happening. She didn’t sputter or choke as she took in the water, and showed no signs of needing to leave the water as she sucked it in and spat it back out as she would have done any other water.

This was a good sign, as we both knew what it was like when she inhaled something that disagreed with her, as there was more than one time that I had to make a dramatic rescue when she had taken a bath, and made a foolish decision to submerge herself under the water after having made it far too soapy. After about a minute of this, the kelpie lifted her head back up, and looked up to me.

“You don’t feel anything bad?” I asked.

“No, everything seems fine.” Scylla replied, without so much as a stutter in her words.

“Then I guess it’s ok. Just stay close to shore, and if you start to feel tired or queasy, swim back to land immediately.”

A bright smile grew on the aquatic filly’s face, and the next thing I knew she was diving into the water, swimming once around me in a display of her excitement, before zipping off to a slightly deeper section of water. I did my best to track her movements, still intent on keeping her locked in my sights, but it was a little harder now that she was in her natural environment. If it wasn’t for her occasional underwater spins and flips, I would have only seen a blur of gray, red, and pink.

While I did worry for Scylla’s safety, I was honestly happy to see her have such a good time. I had always figured that some time at a large body of water would have been fun for her, but rivers and lakes always made me wary to let her venture in, and the public pool had similar issues to the bathtub due to the chemicals used to keep it clean. Watching her have the time of her young life, finally able to utilize her aquatic abilities to the fullest, made me feel a lot better about going to the beach that day.

After a few passes back and forth in front of me, the young kelpie returned to where I stood, breaching the water surface with dripping wet look of enjoyment, “Dad, did you see how fast I went? I didn’t even know I could do that!”

“Yes, Scylla,” I said, patting her head, “You’re certainly a natural. That’s to be expected though.”

“Cause of this?” Scylla replied, manually lifting her tail out of the water with her arms.

“That and all your other fishy features,” I said, chuckling like it was some sort of private joke, “So why don’t you go back out there and show me some more tricks?”

Excited to show off, Scylla dipped back under the water, swimming out a bit further, but not too far that I had to worry about her vanishing on me. She was a good girl, understanding that I didn’t want her to venture too far into the open waters. My protectiveness didn’t stop her from having fun though, as she started doing small leaps out of the sea, just to see if she could.

I made my way back to the our beach blanket, ready to trust Scylla’s own ability to take care of herself, laid down under the umbrella, and opened one of the water bottles I had been holding onto so I could drink it myself, now that I knew that they wouldn’t be needed for an emergency. It was nice to relax, have a day away from the home, and not have to fuss over work or think that I was being a sub par parent for a filly not of my species. From my spot in the sands, I could watch as Scylla did her occasional leaps, which not just entertained her, but let me know that she was doing just fine. For the first time in maybe my whole life, everything felt just right.

I wasn’t the only one watching the antics of my adopted daughter though, as other ponies, adults and foals alike, started to take notice of her trying to perform tricks each time she surfaced. The younger ponies tried to get a closer view by going up to the shore, while the older ones seemed content with watching from a distance, or just going about their own beach activities.

At first I didn’t think anything of it, saying to myself, “I guess ponies around here don’t care if a kelpie shares the beach with them.” This line of thought kept me content for a few minutes, but this I started to see the strangeness in that. Ponies, meaning the three major tribes of pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies, were not usually this calm around other species, and while I didn’t see this acceptance of Scylla as something to be alarmed over, it did make me curious.

Taking my eyes off Scylla for a second, I looked around for someone closeby, who had to have seen Scylla, but was showing little interest in her. My eyes landed on an earth pony stallion waxing up a surfboard, who was occasionally looking out into the waters.

Scooting over closer, I got within earshot of the stallion, and politely asked, “Hey, not to bother you, but no one’s worried about that aquatic mare in the water?” I avoided using the word ‘kelpie’ so not to cause panic, since anypony who would recognize the name would know how normal kelpie were hostile by nature.

The stallion looked up from his board for a moment to acknowledge me, and replied, “No, I don’t think anypony is. She’s not really bothering anypony out in the water. Just enjoying the beach like the rest of us, right?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “She’s actually my adopted daughter, but I didn’t expect ponies outside of my town to be this understanding. Even there, I had to get them used to the idea.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” the surfer stallion replied, “Ponies who come to this beach frequently are pretty used to sea ponies.”

“Sea ponies?” I questioned, “But she’s not a… Wait, you said you’re used to sea-.”

Another splash could be heard from the coast, and assuming it was Scylla again, I turned my head to make sure she was still doing fine. What I saw was not the small, gray and white body of the kelpie, but instead a flash of sea foam green zipping across the blue sky. I thought I was seeing things, that maybe I had caught a glimpse of the water Scylla pulled up with her when she left the water, but then another large object burst from the surface, this time a bright yellow one, and with my eyes tracking the movement from the start this time, I was able to make out the image of the first true sea pony I had ever seen.

A few more sea ponies leapt from the water, doing a much better job at it than Scylla had done prior, going several feet into the air before the arced back into the water. Once again, the ponies had their attentions drawn to this activity, but few seemed to actually care about the presence of these rarely seen, oceanic equine. The only one who really seemed to be impressed about their arrival was the one who shared the most similarities with them, as Scylla made her way back to the shore, and ran herself right up to me, even as I was still speaking with the surfer pony.

“Dad!” she yelled, over and over, even as she got right to me, “Look! There are other water ponies like me!”

“They are so pretty!” Scylla yelled in excitement as I had her come sit on the blanket with me, “A pink one swam right next to me, and I was surprised cause I had been swimming around and didn’t see them till they got close, and she was a big adult, and I wonder if I’ll look like that when I get older!”

“I’m sure you’ll be beautiful when you get older,” I tell Scylla, handing her a fish sandwich and a juice box, “And yeah, this is all pretty exciting. I’ve never seen a sea pony in person either.”

“So these aren’t kelpie like me?” Scylla asked, not knowing there was a difference.

“Sea ponies are probably closely related,” I said, having no idea if that was true or not, “Unicorns, alicorns, and pegasi are supposed to be pretty close too, so I don’t see why sea ponies and kelpie wouldn’t be the same.”

Kelpie took a bite of her fish sandwich, her gaze trailing off back to the water as she watched a purple sea pony do a full back flip out of the water. “So one of them might be my aunt or uncle?”

“I’m not sure it’s that close,” I said, “More like your ancestors might have branched off from the same tribe. I really don’t know though.”

“Then why don’t we ask them?” Scylla said, her childish simplicity seeing that as the easiest way to get answers.

Normally, I would have had reservations when it came to approaching creatures I've never encountered before, or large bodies of water in general, but I had been watching the other beach goers as they went about their day without any concern for the ponies sharing the beach with them. They were still going out to swim, some of which apparently had been waiting for the sea ponies’ arrival to make their way into the tides, that surfer stallion I talked to before being one said pony.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt if we can find one who’s willing to talk to us.” I said, “But eat your snack first. All that swimming had to take a lot of energy out of you.”

Scylla did as I asked, and gobbled down her sandwich, while taking a more leisurely time with her drink. I had a small snack of my own, with some daisy and hay sandwiches I prepared for myself, since Scylla and I had different dietary needs. Once done, I upheld my promise, and with her small hand in mine, we approached the waters to go talk to the sea ponies.

Like before, I waded in up to my knees, not really desiring to go any deeper than that, and looked around to see how close the sea ponies were to the coast. Most of them were further out than Scylla had been swimming prior, which made sense since the water was their natural environment, and they didn’t have an overly cautious adoptive father telling them to stay close to land.

“Pardon me!” I called out, trying to get one of the sea pony’s attention, not any in particular, just whoever would listen.

Unfortunately, my call was drawing more attention from the ponies on the sand than those in the water, who probably thought I was some annoying tourist trying to bother them, which was actually pretty on the nose. I gave a bit of a sigh when I realized I was probably being ignored, but I wasn’t about to let Scylla down.

“Ok,” I said, releasing her hand, “I want you to stay right here. Daddy is gonna go out and talk to them.” Flapping my wings, I fly myself a few feet above the water, and make my way over to where more sea ponies were gathered. “Excuse me! I was hoping I could borrow a moment of your time. Not all of you, but if one of you could let me ask you some questions, I have a little filly over here who is curious about you.”

The reaction to my more direct approach was less than ideal, as those closest to me dove under the water, flipping their tails at me once in what I assumed was a rude gesture, as they slipped beneath the surface. I tried again, zipping over to some others who were still above the surface, but they saw me coming and preemptively swam downwards. It was disheartening, to be sure, as it didn’t seem like I could get so much as the time of day from any of them, having to send Scylla a disappointed look over the situation. Just as I was about to give up though, a large splash erupted from the water.

I found it hard to evade what was coming at me, finding myself in a similar situation as when I first met Scylla, only this time Anya wasn’t around to save me from whatever was coming at me at torpedo speeds. It was even green like the previous time, though a bright green this time, which made it harder for me to see in the ocean waters. However, what was different this time was that the creature coming at me didn’t have a look of anger, but instead an expression of shock and bewilderment that matched my own.

I could only take this in for a fraction of a second before impact, as I was suddenly colliding with a tall, slender, oceanic mare. The impact sent me for backwards spin, with the sea pony at first going over top of me with my back to the ocean, then turning upside down with me, and then starting to plummet back to the waters below once I managed to go right side up again. While the re-entry for her probably would have caused no harm, my panic stricken mind made me instinctively grab ahold of the sea mare’s arms, and flap my wings as hard as they could to keep us both from falling in.

For about a half a minute, the both of us were panting heavily, trying to piece together what happened, as we both recovered mentally from the slightly terrifying encounter. As things started falling into place, and we both came to the conclusion that we were ok, I looked down at her and she looked up at me, as we examined the other parties in this accident.

I probably should have just apologized and lowered her safely into the water, but for some reason, probably because I was a bit too stunned to form new thoughts, my thoughts were locked on the reason I came out this far in the first place.

“Excuse me,” I said in the last moments of my exasperation, “But could I bother you with some questions?”

“Questions?” the mare replied, too stupefied by everything that happened to do anything by repeating back the word.

“Not for me,” I said back, “It’s for my daughter. She’s really interested in sea ponies, and… well…”

I look back to where Scylla was standing, the young filly being a good girl and not moving from her spot, despite the unintended attack. She was looking relieved that nothing else happened, her fish tail in her hands, having grabbed it to comfort her as she witnessed the crash. The sea pony followed my eyes, and likewise saw the girl standing hip deep in water, her irises shrinking down a little smaller when she saw the girl who was clearly a water pony like herself, but likewise was not a sea pony.

However, the sea pony was only given a brief moment to reflect on what she was seeing, as while I had become accustomed to flying around a small child like Scylla, a full sized mare like the one I was holding onto was a little too much for my wings to handle. Having used a good deal of effort keeping us both afloat, my wings suddenly gave out, and we both plummeted back into the sea.

About a minute later, I found myself being brought to shore, coughing and sputtering out water as I took in deep breaths of air. Alongside me was the green sea mare, who swam me back to shore, who was breathing heavily as well, but only do to having to exert herself trying to get me back to land.

“Thanks,” I said as I lifted my body up out of the ebbing tides, not completely out of the water, knowing that the mare had saved me from drowning.

“It’s fine,” she replied, “It was, in a way, my fault. I should have looked where I was leaping better.”

As I continued to hack up a decent portion of the ocean from my lungs, a small gray mare ran over to my side. “Dad!” Scylla yelled, needing to see if I was ok, after watching me fall into the water and not rise up for long enough time to be worried. The young filly did understand that I wasn’t able to breath under water like her, and thus understood that my safety had been in danger.

Turning to the sea mare, Scylla got between us, spreading her arms wide to try and defend me from what she thought was an attacker. From the distance she had been, she didn’t hear anything we said to one another, and believed that the sea pony had purposefully attacked me to pull me into the water.

“Don’t you dare hurt my dad, or else I’ll… I’ll…” Scylla’s skin suddenly shifted from its usual gray color, to the sickly green hue of her kelpie form, her hair darkening and the whites of her eyes turning black as she revealed the monstrous side of herself. She gave a mean snarl to the sea mare, revealing a vicious set of fangs for a creature of her size.

The quick shift did cause the sea mare to recoil in shock, not expecting the cute filly to change to such a ghastly form, but she thankfully didn’t flee before I managed to work up the energy to correct Scylla’s misconceptions.

Turning around while still on my knees, I wrapped my arms around Scylla to both embrace and restrain her. “It’s alright.” I said calmly, knowing that raising my voice would only make things worse, “This sea pony saved me.”

“I saw her attack you!” Scylla yelled, describing to me how she perceived the events.

“It was an accident.” I corrected, “She was leaping out of the water like the others were, and I just happened to be there. I caught her in the collision, and then we both fell into the water. Then she brought me to shore.”

Hearing my version of what happened, Scylla settled down, and slowly shifted back to her more dolphin-like form, before turning herself around to hug me back. “I was so worried about you! I didn’t know what was going on or what I should do!”

With Scylla now facing my direction, I could see she was crying, and might have been crying from the moment she thought I was in danger. It hurt me to see her in such distress, but also warmed my heart to see she cared about me so much.

“It’s ok. It was just an accident. Everything’s fine now.” I did my best to comfort the foal with my words, speaking softly to let her know that everything was fine now, and she didn’t need to be afraid.

As we shared this affectionate moment between one another, the sea mare looked on at the two of us, interested in everything she had seen. “So this is the daughter you were talking about before. Isn’t she a special little filly.”

“She’s certainly my special little girl.” I said, stroking Scylla’s mane as she sniffled into my shoulder.

The sea mare moved closer to us, walking up onto the land on a pair of legs, debunking the rumor I had once herald that they only possessed a fish tail. Once out of the water, I could see that she was tall, standing a head taller than me if I had been standing as well, and when she got close to us, she crouched down to speak with us at a more even height.

“I’m so sorry I scared you like that, little one. I promise that your father and I gave each other a bit of a fright as well. How about we start over from the beginning. My name is Posey, what’s yours?”

The kelpie turned to look at the sea pony, now only slightly bigger than herself, “Scylla.” She said, wiping the last remnants of tears from her eyes.

“Well Sylla, you were such a brave filly, standing up for your dad like that.” Posey said, “And the way you shapeshifted, it was really scary.”

“Yeah…” I said nervously, “Scylla’s actually-”

“A kelpie?” Posey asked, though she already knew the answer, “I’ll be honest, sea ponies don’t usually see kelpie out near the ocean. We’re told they don’t take well to salt water.”

“I did just fine.” Scylla said, still coming off as a little worried about the aquatic mare, perhaps emulating my previous tone towards Posey, “I was swimming before you got here, and it was really fun.”

“I bet you were,” Posey said in praise, “You look like you’re a wonderful swimmer, with that tail fin, and your smooth skin. You know, fur creates resistance, and makes you swim slower.”

Hearing the sea mare say that, Scylla gave her a smile in return, “Is that why my dad is a bad swimmer?”

“No,” I said before Posey could reply, “I’m a bad swimmer because I have these big wings dragging me down. Tell you what though, if you don’t make fun of me when I swim, I won’t make fun of you when you fall like a rock.”

Before Scylla could realize what I was doing, I stood up, grabbed her under the arms, and tossed her lightly in the air. She made a playful squeal as she flew upwards, only to have gravity return her back to my hands as I caught her.

This amused Posey, who commented by saying, “You two are quite the pair.”

“We do compliment one another,” I said, agreeing with the sea mare, “Oh, I’m sorry. I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m Pathfinder. As Scylla said before, I’m her father.”

Posey looked at me, clearly wondering how a pegasus became the father of a kelpie, but having more tact than to ask directly. Instead, she focused what she said next on why I was trying to get a sea pony’s attention in the first place.

“So you had some questions to ask me?” said the sea mare, now intrigued over what inquiries I could have for her.

“Well, I’m sure we both do.” I said, “About aquatic pony life. You see, Scylla’s never been around ponies like herself, and I only know as much as I’ve been told by this old gryphon I know, but if we could get some info from a pony that actually lives in the water, then it would help a lot.”

“If all you’re looking for are answers about underwater life, I suppose I don’t have a problem.” Posey said, “Just realize, I’m kinda new to this myself.”

“New?” I questioned, not understanding what the sea mare meant at that time, or grasping how an adult sea pony could be new to living underwater.

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” she replied, “Just go ahead and ask your questions, and I’ll try to answer them the best I can.”

“Ok, then I suppose the first question we have is this.” I said, setting Scylla back down on the ground, “What is the difference between Kelpie and Sea ponies? Are they related?”

“Not exactly,” Posey said, “Kelpie, from what I’ve been told, are water ponies, and they don’t live outside of lakes and rivers. I don’t even think they can usually go into the ocean. I do know they are shapeshifters, like your daughter displayed, but we, uh… us sea ponies, were told their disguises were more like ponies.”

“Disguises?” Scylla asked, confused by this description.

“She means your other form.” I said, having taught Scylla that both her appearances were her, and that neither made her more or less who she was. Of course, I never told Scylla what the purpose of her forms was in the context of kelpie culture, due to how kelpie used their less monstrous appearance to ambush creatures they saw as prey.

Again, Posey picked up on how I skirted around the topic, and colluded with my version of things. “Yes, that’s what I meant. Kelpie normally have furry bodies, and lack a fishtail like the one you have. It’s supposedly hard to tell one apart from a pony, except they like to stay near the water, so much that you can see them soaked if you approach one on land.”

“But I don’t look like that.” Scylla said, confusion entering her young mind as she tried to piece together how she could be a kelpie, but not look like one.

“Well you said you can swim in the ocean,” Posey said, already coming up with an idea of why Scylla was the way she was, “And while kelpie can’t stand salt water, sea ponies can swim in freshwater just fine. It might be that your mother was…” Posey looked to me, and quickly altered what she was about to say to make things less complicated for both me and Scylla. “Part sea pony. It would make the most sense.”

“So we are related?” Scylla asked, suddenly filled with child-like wonder with the idea that she might be a sea pony.

“Probably not blood related,” Posey corrected, “But you may certainly come from our tribe. Your mother might have come from Mount Aris and Seaquestria.”

“Mount Aris?” I asked, focusing on the location with the less fitting name.

“Seaquestria?!” Scylla said, drawn to the more thematically appropriate one.

Posey sighed, realizing the can of worms she had just opened. “It’s a long story. One that, judging by the looks on your faces, you have time to hear.” With a smile on her face, the sea mare took a seat in the tide, picking a spot that submerged a good portion of her lower body. “Let me tell you both about Queen Nova, and the Storm King.”

As Posey implied, the story she had to tell was a long one, explaining many things about sea ponies to me and Scylla. She started off by explaining that sea ponies, as we believed they existed, were not real. They were merely creatures of myth, who’s legends had reached far beyond the lands of Equestria. This didn’t make much sense to either me or my daughter, since there was clear proof of one existing in front of us, but then she explained that her current form was a magical transformation, one created off those old myths, and that all the sea ponies we had seen were actually a species called ‘hippogriffs’, which were believed to be a tribe that came from relations between early pegasi and gryphons, before Griffonstone as a kingdom collapsed.

From there she explained how hippogriffs used to live in a kingdom called Mount Aris, which was located on the top of a far away mountain, outside of Equestria, but then a tyrant called The Storm King came, and while the hippogriffs were not powerful enough to prevent him from ceasing their lands, they were able to escape him through the use of a magical item that turned them into sea ponies, and they recreated their civilization where the Storm King could never get to them, under the sea.

“It’s only been about five years since Seaquestria was established,” Posey said, “And construction on it is still not fully done. Thankfully, Queen Nova has some ties with Princess Celestia, and she has allowed any refugees to reside in Equestria’s sea until our new home is finished.”

“Is that why you’re here at the beach?” Scylla asked, “Is this your house right now?”

“We live quite a ways further away from shore,” Posey explained, “But we come to the beach to ‘get out of the house’, and stretch our legs, so to speak. You might have seen us leaping out of the water earlier. Well, that’s us doing what we can to simulate the sensation of flight. As much as we like our sea pony forms, many of us do miss being able to take to the air.”

“I’m sorry that the sea ponies, or err… hippogriffs have to go through all this. Equestria hasn’t had threats like this Storm King in nearly a thousand years.” I said, giving Posey my condolences.

“All times of peace eventually end,” Posey said, her words holding more wisdom than I knew at that time, “And while we regret having to leave Mount Aris, we are making the best of our situation in Seaquestria. We only wish that one day we will be able to return to our ancestral home.”

“I want to see Mount Aris someday,” Scylla said, “And Seaquestria. They both sound amazing.”

“Well they are both really far away from here,” Posey said, “But how about this. Would you like to swim with us for a little while?”

“Would I?!” Scylla squealed, her voice almost cracking from excitement.

“Ok, settle down.” Posey said, getting up from her seat. “Just wait here, and I’ll be right back.”

The sea mare went into the water, and while it took a little while, me and Scylla waited patiently until she returned with two young sea ponies, a filly and a colt.

“Scylla,” Posey said, “I’d like to introduce you to Coral Reef and Sea Current. They are both strong swimmers, and they have agreed to show you around the waters of the beach and introduce you to the other sea ponies. That is, so long as your dad is okay with that.”

“Can I go, dad?” Scylla asked, though I assume she already knew I was ok with it. Within the short time we knew Posey, I had come to trust she had good intentions for my little kelpie.

“Go on,” I said, “But don’t be gone too long. We have to get back home before sundown.”

Scylla, hearing there was a time limit, dashed like a lightning bolt to the deeper waters, diving in once she got close enough. The two water foals went in after her, where I assume they led her out to where the other sea ponies were gathering. As they left though, Posey stayed behind, and came to me.

“Not going with them?” I asked, as I had thought she was going to be Scylla’s chaperone.

That’s when I saw her face shift from the cheerful smile she had been wearing, to a more concerned look. “Pathfinder, could you please tell me exactly how you became Scylla’s father?”

“I guess it is time I started answering some questions,” I said, as I had partially expected this question to come.

I told the truth, about pretty much everything. How I had accidentally stolen her away from her rightful parents, and tried for years to join them back together, raising her along the way, only to recently give up the search. When I was done, I thought that I would receive some kind of scolding for my actions, but to my surprise the look of concern on Posey’s face turned to one of understanding.

“Pathfinder,” she said softly, “You probably did that filly a great service. Kelpie are typically monsters, at least as far as we hippogriffs are aware. However, when Seaquestia was first being created, some of our kind didn’t have faith in our new home, and left us altogether. As I said before, Scylla seems to be both sea pony and kelpie, and we can only assume that something bad happened in order for that to happen.”

I had an idea of what Posey was implying, but I didn’t want to think that it was true, and to this day I can’t confirm the validity of her belief.

“That you pulled her away from the monster that created her, and brought out her kinder hippogriff side, shows that you are a good stallion, and a good father.”

“But…” I said, anticipating a follow up to her kind words that I knew would tear my heart to pieces, “You think she should be with her own kind, don’t you?”

I was sure this was what Posey was leading too, and while I had just accepted Scylla as my daughter, I couldn’t really argue that she deserved to be with others like her, if that was what she and the sea ponies wanted.

“Then you understand why it took me so long to come back,” Posey said, explaining how a portion of her time away was spent, “I had to tell the others about her, and we had to debate on how to handle this situation. As far as I can tell, she is part sea pony, but she is also part kelpie. This caused a lot of conflicted ideas on the topic, but in the end we decided to do what we feel is best for her.”

“And that means taking her from me.” I said solemnly. It would have been the obvious decision, but then the sea mare said something that surprised me.

“Actually, we feel what is best for her would be to stay with you, as you have both proven that you love each other too much to part. Not only does she seem happy and healthy, but Scylla was willing to defend you when she thought you were in danger. You two are the very depiction of a father and daughter. Even if we tried to convince her to come with us, I doubt she’d agree.”

“So you’re saying… its okay that she stays with me?” I questioned, wanting to make sure I heard right.

“The only concern the others had was if I was telling the truth, so they wanted to speak with her first hand. We also wanted to make sure you hadn’t done something to a sea pony that could have been her mother or father, but I believe the story you told me about how you found her. I’ll go back to the others, and relay my opinion on the matter. After that, I’ll bring her back personally, I promise.”

The sea mare returned to the water, and while I had to wait some time, she was good to her word and brought back a thoroughly entertained fish filly. To Scylla, nothing was amiss. She knew nothing about Posey questioning me, and believed that she had gone on an underwater tour of the beach’s coast. Thrilled and elated by her adventure, she ran back to me, ending up in my arms as I hugged her upon return.

“Dad, you wouldn’t guess all the things I saw!” she said ecstatically.

“No, but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me all about it later.” I replied, overjoyed to have my daughter back. Taking a peek back to Posey, her expression was one of comfort, as she could see from our reaction in reuniting that she and her people were making the right choice. “So, are you ready to go home?”

“Almost,” Scylla said, as she pulled away from me, turning to face the sea mare again, “Thank you very much for letting me see the ocean, Miss Posey.”

Posey closed her eyes as her smile brightened even further, “And polite too. Your daddy has raised you well.”

“Of course he has,” Scylla said, matter of factly, “My dad always takes good care of me.”

The day ended with Posey returning to the sea, to go and rejoin with the other sea ponies as they retired to their temporary home in the South Luna Sea. Both she and Scylla waved each other goodbye with their fish tails, while I did a simple hand wave.

“Don’t you two be strangers now,” said Posey, just before leaving, “It’s gonna take a long time before Seaquestria will be ready, and I want to see you two again.”

With that said, the mare dove under the water, while I silently agreed to her proposal. “Ok, I think that’s about all the time we have to spend here today.” I said to Scylla, who looked satisfied with this outing.

The filly had done so much more than she was expecting to, as what we both thought would be a bit of swimming followed by some standard beach activities had turned into an interaction with another species that few had privy to. Scylla agreed that, for today at least, there was little more she wanted to do, so we went to pack up our things, and head back home.

Scylla put her white sundress back on over her swimsuit and placed her hat on her head, as I gathered up our things into the duffle bag they were brought in, and put on the flight harness I used to carry the little kelpie. Once everything had been securely stowed away, I strapped Scylla to my body, and we took off back to our house. At the time of our departure, we still had about an hour before Princess Celestia would lower the sun for the day, and I expected us to get back a little after it got dark.

“So, did you enjoy your first beach trip?” I asked the young kelpie latched to my chest, as we both flew through the sky.

“Yeah,” she replied, “It was really fun. I can’t wait till the next time we go.”

“Well I’m glad you had fun,” I said, legitimately happy that I could do something Scylla really enjoyed, even though a good portion of my day was being sidelined at the shore.

Her happiness was all I really needed, but I was also glad that this trip gave me a little vindication over my parenting of Scylla. I really didn’t know if I was being trusted to continue raising her only because Scylla was a kelpie, or part one as it had been revealed, and the sea ponies didn’t want to deal with that part of her, but whatever the reason it felt like a huge weight off my shoulders. Now I truly had no more doubts about me continuing to raise her as my child.

“Hey dad,” Scylla said, not content with simply enjoying the scenery as we made our way home, “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” I said, assuming she just wanted to talk to pass the time.

Scylla hesitated a little with her question, nervously pondering if she should even ask it, before deciding to just say what was on her mind. “Why isn’t my mom here?”

“We already discussed that,” I replied, “Anya had to go do some work, and couldn’t come with us this time.”

I had assumed Scylla meant the gryphon that she sometimes called mom, but I was soon corrected when she clarified, “No… I mean my real mom. My kelpie mom.”

Scylla, even at a young age, understood that pony families could consist of different species. There were, after all, many families that were comprised of any combination of earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, with their kids sometimes being a different species from the parents due to their race belonging to an ancestor in their bloodline. For this reason, Scylla never questioned that I was her real dad, though we looked so different. This was the first time though that she questioned why she didn’t have an actual mother.

“You know, I’ve been expecting this question for a long time,” I said to her, “But what brought it up now?”

“The sea ponies asked me some questions about it when I was swimming with them.” the filly answered, “They were really interested in me, and you… and my mom. Did something bad happen to her?”

“It’s hard to explain,” I said, not knowing if I should lie, tell the truth, or devise something in between. “I tried to figure out what happened to her myself, but after a long time of searching, I’ve only hit dead ends. If I knew she was ok, and where she was, nothing would stop me from getting you back to her. But…”

I really couldn’t say much more at that moment, my heart telling me to be honest, but my mind telling me to stay silent.

“It’s ok, dad,” Scylla said, seeing that the question was not a pleasant one, “I’m sure that if my mom is out there, I’ll meet her someday. When I do, I’m sure she’ll have lots to tell me about what she’s been doing, and I’ll tell her how good a job you did taking care of me. Until then, we can just be happy together.”

“Thanks Scylla,” I said with a sigh, as the filly let me off the hook for now.

Maybe it was because she was used to Anya, her other mother figure in her life, constantly coming and going, but Scylla had come to accept that I was the one person who had no intention of leaving her. While she didn’t get the answer she really wanted, for now she was willing to accept the fact that I would always be there for her as a consultation.

“Oh! Let me tell you what else they did with me while I was swimming with them!” Scylla said, wanting to lighten the mood after that somber moment.

I listened intently, letting her tell me everything she wanted to say with little interruption, save for the occasional sound of amazement in her story. It was a father’s interest to show interest in what their child was interested in after all, and after that day, I felt more like Scylla’s father than I had ever prior. As we soared through the air, I believed that we were the very image of a loving father and daughter.